This past week, I drove down to my parent’s house in Eugene. It’s a nice little drive that takes me through some beautiful farming country here in Oregon. As I was driving, I was actually praying about my devotion for this week.
Then on a yard sign in front of one of the houses was a scripture—James 4:6, which says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
This is one of those scriptures that stirs up a lot of emotions for me because it seems like we have a lot of people in our world who come off prideful and arrogant, many of whom identify as Christians.
We often take on this mentality that, because we’re Christians, we know how everyone else should live their lives. And we’re not afraid to let them know it. The problem is that this kind of pride is not God’s desire for His people.
We are seeing more and more division in our world and in the Christian community because of pride. But God’s desire is for us to walk in love and humility.
Jesus was born into the world in a time that wasn’t really much different than our world today. The Romans were prideful, arrogant people. Sin and corruption that completely went against God’s Word and desire for His creation were running rampant.
But He didn’t come into the world with a prideful, arrogant attitude, trying to put everyone else in their place. He knew that the world was broken and He knew that it would be His kindness that led people to repentance.
Jesus, the God of the universe who knew everything, approached people with love and humility. And I believe we are called to follow in His footsteps because “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
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