God opposes the proud
As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” So humble yourselves before God.
James 4:6-7 NLT
Did you know that God is capable of hatred? Or perhaps you think that God is so nice that he couldn’t bring himself to hate anything. The fact is that the Bible is quite clear that God seethes with hatred at times. In Proverbs 6:16 we learn that God hates seven things and top of the list is pride.
God’s problem with pride is that it is a complete rejection of him. The proud person doesn’t have any need for God, but lives a life in defiance of God’s will. And so we read that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. We therefore need to carefully unpack what this word humble means because it is clearly the gateway to true blessing.
Humility doesn’t sound too attractive. We have awful images of people putting on an act, claiming to be but a mere worm and totally unworthy. That’s what we can neatly call false humility. True humility is the reverse of pride. The proud person has hands that are so full of their own excellence that they are unable to receive anything from God. The humble person stands in complete contrast and comes to God with empty hands, longing to receive his blessings.
The truly humble person has a clear understanding of life. They understand that they are a much loved child of God and that in order to be fully alive their life needs to be lived, step by step, in daily dependence on God. They don’t have an inflated view of their own importance but, at the same time, they see how important they are in God’s eyes. Humility is the key that unlocks the door to the life that God wants us to live.
QUESTION
Think of somebody in whose life you have seen true humility. What have you learnt from their example?
PRAYER
Lord thank you that you are so eager to bless my life. Help me to come to you today with empty hands, ready to receive whatever you want to give me. Amen?
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