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Devotion May 6th

Thursday 6th

James 4:1-12

NIV (vv6-8) – ‘But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded’.

ESV (vv6-8) – ‘But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.’

We come today to ‘Submit yourselves therefore to God’. As we go through life we get used to having to submit to those who are in a position of authority, it starts immediately we are born where we submit to our parents, we begin to go to school and submit to those who are in a place of authority as teachers and this continues as we go into the workplace and submit to the authority of those over us as employers or bosses. We submit to the authority of those in positions that govern our lives, such as the government and those in place to protect us such as the police force, but in every case the authority that they have is limited and must take place within certain boundaries.

In our text today we are told to, or rather should I say, encouraged to submit to God. God has a right to be in a position of authority over us, for as we are reminded throughout Scripture, he has made us, we belong to him, we are his created beings. But sadly, the willingness to submit to God was broken when Adam and Eve chose to disobey and to listen instead to the evil one. Ever since then mankind has struggled with authority, sadly, there are those who use their position of authority in an abusive way, there are those who just simply rebel or resist against authority and others who are just indifferent to it. But we need those in authority to keep the physical world and our enjoyment of it in check. In the same way we need the authority of God in our lives, left to our own whim and fancy we would be in a chaotic state, as we see when the authority of God or submission to God is avoided or rejected.

We submit to God by handing our lives over to him, that is why I will often refer to the importance of not just knowing Jesus as Saviour but also of both acknowledging him and accepting him as Lord, that is we need his saving grace and power, but at the same time we need to hand our lives into his capable hands, and we do this by submitting everything into his sovereign care. We not only verbally say he is Lord, but we allow him to be Lord. Lordship salvation is something that seems to be avoided today, we would rather make accepting Jesus an easy process, rather than emphasising as well that it is all about becoming a disciple, there is a need to give up and to let go, as James says, a need to submit to God. Coming to salvation requires us to acknowledge again the rule of God in our hearts and lives, allowing him to lead us and ensuring that we submit to him, obeying and following.

One of the older hymns is all about the Lord being the potter and of us being the clay, it starts with the words, ‘Have thine own way Lord, have thine own way,’ this is so different to how we are outside of Christ where we want our own way and to do our own thing, the song continues, ‘mould me and make me, after thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still’. The final verse says, ‘Have thine own way Lord, have thine own way, hold o’er my being absolute sway! Fill with thy Spirit, till all shall see, Christ only, always, living in me!  What a prayer to make, but also, what a response to make as we heed this instruction from James, to ‘submit yourselves therefore to God.’ Maybe some of these older hymns need to be rediscovered so that the challenge will become apparent again in Christian services, where instead of just singing nice songs that make us feel good, we become challenged again regarding our daily walk and relationship with God as our Saviour, challenging us toward our submission to his divine will and purpose.