After addressing coveting, envy and jealousy James hits another product of our sinful human nature. In Chapter 4 vs 6 he says God will give us grace if we’re humble but He hates pride. And James equates pride with Satan. In vs 7 he tells us to humble ourselves before God. How? By resisting the devil. Satan will try to get us to do things our own way, to come up with our own plans, and to leave God out of things. James says we need to resist those temptations.
How do we humble ourselves before God? He says the first thing is to have a repentant heart. Not just to say we’re sorry and move on but to be truly upset at our failure to obey God. He says we should have tears of mourning and not casual laughter at our sins. Then we need to change our habits—to wash our hands and purify our hearts. James is talking about true repentance here. Making a decision to turn away from ungodly behavior, not just say “I’m sorry” but keep doing the same things.
Then James finishes with a promise. He says if we truly humble ourselves before the Lord, God will lift us up in honor. And that’s the kind of honor we should really want in our lives—for God to say “Well done my good and faithful servant!”
