James 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

I quote verse 7 of this chapter with great frequency, but this verse too is justly famous. It is completely counter to the way the world thinks and operates, but that’s entirely appropriate, considering verse 4 and its strong words about friendship with the world. All of this is wrapped up in something called world view, that is, how we see the world and expect, or want, it to operate. Sad to say, recent surveys show that a shockingly small percentage of Americans have a genuinely Biblical world view, and that’s in a nation that was founded on Biblical principles! Our flesh wants everything to be about us, to be the center of the universe, when actually, we are remarkably insignificant. The amazing thing is actually that the Creator cares so much about us! I can’t back this up, but I’ve read that human beings are about the median in size of everything that exists, from subatomic particles to galaxies. That sounds about right to me. The point is that we aren’t to think of ourselves too much or too little. As Paul said, “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.” (Romans 12:3) We aren’t to consider ourselves worthless, because Jesus died for us, and that assigns an incredible worth to us. On the other end of the scale, Jesus was quite blunt: “Apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) As James says here, if we will humble ourselves, genuinely remembering and believing Jesus’ words, then our Lord will lift us up to the status for which He created us, as His children indeed. There is nothing higher than that!

I had an interesting experience of this just yesterday. I went to a seminar at a church about an hour away from here on ministering to Jehovah’s Witnesses. That’s not something that occupies me very often, but it is the major ministry of the man who lead the seminar. Several people gave testimonies of how whey had been trapped in that movement, the longest for 40 years, when God in His grace had opened their eyes to the truth. I frankly had trouble staying awake! However, in the Q&A time that followed, I shared my experience of having a JW elder in my home for over two hours as we “opened the Bible at each other.” The thing that wrapped that up had been when I asked him if his faith gave him joy. He immediately countered that of course, working for the kingdom of God was joyful, but I said, “No, not what you do, but your faith itself. Does it give you joy?” He never answered that, and very quickly made his excuses and left. That story made a big impact on the man leading the seminar, because to this point he has gone at it from the JWs’ various errors in history, theology, and linguistics. He’s obviously had some success, but my story helped him understand that he was looking at only part of the picture. In the sharing time after lunch, more than one person referenced what I had shared, and one former JW said that she had pictures of her baptism as a JW, and she said she didn’t look happy at all. The point of all this is that I didn’t put myself forward, but shared what the Lord had done through me, and the result was that I was greatly lifted up in the eyes of all present. I can’t do anything right on my own, but God can do anything He likes through me!

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for Your incredible grace toward me. Help me indeed see the world with Your eyes, to interact with the things and people around me as You desire, for Your glory alone. Thank You. Praise God!