"Therefore, submit to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people! Be miserable and mourn and weep. Your laughter must change to mourning and your joy to sorrow. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you."
-James 4:7-10, HCSB
Wow, it was really hard to pick which verses to focus on. But I'm a simple girl. So if I tried to take the whole chapter in at once, I might go a little skitzo. Anyway, the second half of verse nine really jumped out at me - "your laughter must change to mourning and your joy to sorrow." Now, taken by itself, this verse would seem absurd. Why would God want us to be sad and depressed? But if you look at the verses prior, the answer is given. The NLT translates verses 8 and 9 in this way: "Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy."
We are to yearn to be grieved by our sin. Because if we love the world and are divided between God and the world, we are serving ourselves. Our "joy" is fleeting because we are not getting joy from our heavenly, eternal Father. In order to come close to God and purify ourselves from sin, we must first face sorrow over our sin, because it causes God to sorrow. And what grieves Him must also grieve us.
God, I can think of so many times in the past three years especially when I tried to find joy in earthly things. When I allowed my loyalty to be divided between God and other things. And that's SO EASY to do. Especially at this age. Especially in relationships at this age. Because, let's just be honest, right now, I'm at the age where marriage is a definite possibility. But I cannot let my desire for a husband eclipse my love for my Father. A wise friend reminded me recently that I must content myself in God alone. Easier said than done, but I am not alone in this endeavor. God has equipped me with His word, the Holy Spirit, and fellow Christians to encourage me. Thank you, Lord.
"In order to come close to God and purify ourselves from sin, we must first face sorrow over our sin, because it causes God to sorrow. And what grieves Him must also grieve us."
ReplyDeleteWow. Yes.
When someone quotes something you've written and loves it = heart melt :)
Delete