But he giveth more
grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the
humble. 7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the
devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw nigh to God, and he
will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands,
ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 9Be
afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and
your joy to heaviness. 10Humble yourselves in the sight of
the Lord, and he shall lift you up - James 4:6-10
We
have learned that there is nothing under heaven more wonderful than being
called of God. Remember, this is not a mark of divine favouritism, since God
does not play favourites (Acts 10:34). Favouritism means heaping favour, care,
and substance on one party at the expense of detriment of another.
Doing
so is a foolish thing for it can cause serious, long-term family disharmony.
For example, Isaac favoured his macho son Esau over his more domestic son Jacob
- Rebecca, siding with Jacob, hatched a plot to steal Esau’s blessing. It
almost destroyed the family. Jacob apparently did not learn the lessons against
favouritism: He favoured Rachel over and against Leah and the two maids Zilpah
and Bilhah. The rivalry between the 2 sisters was intense. But it did not stop
there: Jacob favoured his youngest sons, Joseph and Benjamin, against his other
sons. Joseph was nearly destroyed and Jacobs heart torn out.
No,
God does not play favourites - He elects and/or calls. There is a notable
difference between this and favouritism. Here, God choses an individual,
family, or even nation for divine service. There are privileges with the call but
there are also awesome responsibilities. When properly obeyed, the called
individual, family, or nation becomes a blessing for the world That’s precisely
the case with the patriarch Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In him and in his seed
all the nations of the earth will be blessed (Genesis 12:3; 28:14)
Let
us also not forget that many are called and few are chosen (Matthew 22:14). So,
if we want to be part of God’s called, we must do the practical steps. In the
last article, we learned some practical steps based on Romans 12:1-2:
Forget the world, renew the mind, understand God’s will.
So
far, so good.
Now,
in this final article, we want to focus on an equally practical passage of
Scripture. It is found in James 4:6-10:
1.
Grace (James 4:6): If
we are to be equipped to fulfil the call, and have the presence of God with us
every step of the way, we need to learn what it means to resist pride and
embrace humility. One excellent description I learned of these two opposites is
that pride lives independently of the living God. Humility is both the
acknowledgement of one’s need for God and desire to come closer to Him. Since
God gives ‘more grace,’ we want to take as much as we can get. It starts with
humility for God ‘giveth grace unto the humble’ (James 4:6);
2.
Submit to God (James 4:7): Like
posting a stamped, addressed envelope into the post box, thus leaving our hands
and committed to the postal service who will make sure it gets to its
destination, we submit ourselves to God. We don’t just surrender our burdens,
cares, sins, and actions … we submit ourselves. We are now on His territory,
terms, and subject to His timing. It is actually a powerful place to be, since
God can do ‘exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think’ - Ephesians
3:20.r you, even if it does not appear so at first. Remember the promise of
Proverbs 3:5-6!
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