October 1, 2021 (Friday)
There is a war,
within every one of us. On one side we have God, who loves us and wants the
best for us. On the other side is our sinful nature fueled by the demonic.
James 4:5 states, “Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns
jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?” [ESV]
Two verses later, James defines our path to victory, “Therefore, submit
to God. Resist the devil, and he will run away from you.” [James 4:6
CEB] It is really a two-step process. First, submit to God. Only after that can
we effectively resist the devil. In American culture the concept of submission
is evil, perverted, or taboo. Benjamin Franklin, when describing an American,
stated we would rather die on our feet than live on our knees. The very heart
of our culture demands that we yield to nobody. Our battle cry is “you can’t
make me!”
I’ve said before, my observation is that people tend to have
“one thing” that stands between them and God. It’s almost like God allows us to
face something that questions our love for Him. Possibly at the core is the unwillingness
to completely surrender to God. It is the ugly pet we keep in the locked
closet. This becomes the gate for the devil.
Is absolute submission the real demand in this verse? How
complete does the submission have to be? Before I get to that, there is a tool
that we find wedged between James 4:5 and James 4:7. Check it out, “But he gives more
grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the
humble.” [James 4:6 ESV] Grace is a
theological word I’m not sure we understand. Did you know Jesus never spoke
about grace?
The idea in the Greek is “he gives greater grace.” (Meaning
larger and stronger.) But larger and stronger than what? The only thing I can
think of is this grace is greater than the war and its details we face. Do you
think it’s odd that James throws in the bit about God opposing the proud at
this point? Think about it. Pride or the results of pride has been a running
theme in James’ letter. The word translated “opposes” is an old military term
for waging war (Vincent).
We have two intensely negative images used to describe God.
He is fiercely jealous for us. He is waring against our pride. This kind of
makes God out to be a stalker of some sort, or maybe a parent that loves their child.
As long as we are hanging on to ourselves we will never heal from the damage of
sin, the demonic will always have a foot in the door, and a self-destructive
war will continue to rage.
Maybe God does not JUST want victory for us. Maybe God wants
for us to be at peace, despite the war raging inside us. That happens through a
grace greater than anything we are facing. That happens through the simple act
of submitting to this grace. It’s kind of like when we melt into the love someone
has for us.
How do we melt into the love of God? Stay tuned for next
time…
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