Humble yourselves and submit yourselves to the Lord. What does it mean to humble ourselves before the Lord? According to verse 6, being proud and being humble contradict each other, so we cannot be humble and proud simultaneously.
There are 7 ways James suggests we counteract pride and practice humility in our lives. Those are to:
- Submit yourselves to God
- Resist the devil
- Come near to God
- Wash your hands
- Purify your hearts
- Grieve, mourn, and wail
- Humble yourselves before the Lord.
Based on these 7 things, we are to focus our relationship on the Lord and confess our sins, being grieved by how we have sinned against the Lord. Some of my closest moments of intimacy with the Lord are when I’m more aware of my sin and experience His forgiveness. When my sin is more visible, I see more clearly my need for a Savior. Jesus. I experience His forgiveness and am brought closer to Him.
A practice that I’ve implemented to help me become more aware of my sin and depend on Christ is spiritual breathing, a term coined by Bill Bright, the founder of Cru. Just like regular breathing has 2 parts: exhaling impure air and inhaling pure air, spiritual breathing does the same. When we become aware of an impure area of our life, we exhale and confess our sin to the Lord, asking for His forgiveness. Then we inhale and surrender to the Lord’s control of our lives, asking Him to empower us to live in step with Him. As 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Oh, what good news that is!
For Reflection:
- How do you think becoming more aware of your sin on a daily basis would affect your walk with the Lord?
- What can you do to become more aware of your sins and confess them to the Lord as the Spirit brings them to mind?
by Jessica Helfrich
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