Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. – James 4:10 (NIV)

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. – James 4:10 (KJV)

Theme:  Priorities
This is our 4th week focusing on God’s priorities.  Review previous posts on this theme here:  Seek Him first, Love the Lord, Love your neighbor

We live in a very “me” centric society.  The mindset of “always look out for number one” has become epidemic and a “me first” attitude has increasingly replaced the principle of putting others first.  We see this all around us: how we’re treated (and how we treat others) at school or at work, waiting (or cutting) in lines, driving in traffic, how we use our money and time…even how family members treat each other at times.  As just one example, watch almost any sporting event, from professional games all the way down to prep school matches, and you’ll see players pounding their chests and drawing attention to “me” instead of humbly supporting the team.  Such behavior has become the norm instead of the exception.  In short, a large part of today’s society teaches us to prioritize ourselves and our personal interests over others.

But that’s not how God expects us to prioritize.  God expects us to make Him priority #1 (always!) and to place a priority on serving others (review Seek Him first, Love the Lord, Love your neighbor).

James 4:10 helps us achieve priority #1 by reminding us to humble ourselves before God.  Although we’re certainly expected to be humble in all aspects of our lives, this verse is specifically talking about humbling ourselves before our Lord—in our hearts, in our minds and in our actions.   What are some ways to do this?
– Recognize that our God is sovereign
– Trust that His thoughts and plans are better than our thoughts and plans
– Actively pursue His will over our own desires

In closing, one theme of the book of James (written by Jesus’s brother) is this: it’s not enough to simply hear or talk about the Christian faith…we must also live it (recall James 1:22 from week 5).  Or, said another way, actions speak louder than words.  With that in mind, let’s conclude this week with a question…
Question:  When was the last time you actually knelt down on your hands and knees to pray to God?
If it’s been a while, you might think about doing so.  Although there’s certainly no “right” or “wrong” way to pray, I think it’s helpful from time to time to humbly kneel down as a physical reminder that…
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are [God’s] ways higher than [our] ways and [God’s] thoughts than [our] thoughts” – Isaiah 55:8 (NIV)

 

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