James 4:9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
How seriously should we take sin? It seems many people treat sin as an inconvenience, a trivial matter that can be resolved with a simple confession. A common idea is that everyone sins. It is part of life. James indicates in this verse that sin is not to be taken lightly but with the utmost concern. In ancient Israel, when people mourned and repented, they sometimes put on old sackcloth and threw ashes on their head as a sign of their repentance. If we do not take sin seriously, how can we take salvation seriously? We must realize the deep, dark hole from which God saves us. This should involve an honest assessment of our spiritual condition. We are lost in sin. Sin is our master and we are its slave. The world has enticed us with its empty promises and we have accepted it. Why should we have this demeanor before God? Because this is the outcome of a humble heart. We humans are tricky creatures and can look very humble from the outside but inside remain proud with a hard heart. We may need the shaking actions that James mentions in order for our pride to be shaken loose and unmasked from its hiding. What can we do? Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to penetrate our deepest thoughts and bring freedom from the sin that holds us bondage. This may not be a quick process. Years ago, people who struggled with this called it “praying through.” They “prevailed in prayer” until the light shone clearly through and they could confess with boldness that they had been cleansed from sin. I am afraid that this serious wrestling with sin has be softened by modern sensitivities so much that many aspects of sin have been ignored and pride continues to reign in people’s hearts. James offers us a way to deal with this problem in these verses.
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