Give in to God
22 May 2018
It is best not to read the letter of James if you’re feeling fragile. He doesn’t mince his words. Try this line for example:
Clean your hands, you sinners, and clear your minds, you waverers. Look at your wretched condition, and weep for it in misery; be miserable instead of laughing, gloomy instead of happy.
Of course, there is a reason for his giving his audience a hard time. As we saw in yesterday’s first reading, he is determined to get them free of ‘the bitterness of jealousy’ and ‘self-seeking ambition.’ And here’s why:
God opposes the proud, but he gives generously to the humble. Give in to God, then; resist the devil, and he will run away from you. The nearer you go to God, the nearer He will come to you… Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
In other words: If you want to experience God in your life, begin by admitting that you do need him. It’s not about beating yourself up about what a poor excuse for a human you are, but instead merely recognising that we humans carry a shared brokenness, a wound in our nature that renders us prone to self-absorption and me-centredness. In the pursuit of happiness and wholeness, making ‘me’ the centre of the universe doesn’t work. It never has.
The God of the Bible, the Father of Jesus, wants to come near to you. He wants to lift you up and generously give you good things from His heart of love, but He can’t if you are busy being god yourself. If you want things to work you need to put God where He belongs in your life: the centre of it.
Let God be God in your life today!