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)

Click here for printable verse cards:  Week 36 – Printable Cards

Theme: Love and Humility

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 our verse from week 5:
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” – James 1:22 (NIV)

In keeping with that theme, James 4:10 tells us to do something: to humble ourselves before God.  Although we’re expected to be humble in all aspects of our lives, note that this verse is specifically talking about humbling ourselves—in our hearts, in our minds and in our actions—before our Lord.  How can we do this?  A couple of key first steps are to:
– 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.

With that in mind, let’s leave today’s verse with a question and a challenge.
Question:  when was the last time you actually got down on your hands and knees to pray to God?
Challenge:  if it’s been a while, then let’s do so as a sign of our humility before our Lord.  Although there’s certainly no “right” or “wrong” way to pray, I think it’s helpful from time to time to get down on our hands and knees 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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