March 24 Daily Devotional

Scripture for Day 83—James 4:13–17

¹³ Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"—¹⁴ yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." ¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Devotional:

Put off the sin of walking in presumption. In reliance on God's grace, put on walking in the godliness of conscious, humble dependence on the living God. Remember the context of these verses. James 4:1–5 pointed out the symptoms of worldliness—of that friendship with the world which amounts to enmity with God. Then James 4:6–10 began prescribing the solution—"But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, 'God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.' Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you."

It's so remarkable —and so wonderful!—that the solution begins with the grace of God in Christ. "But he gives more grace" (v. 6). First and foremost, then, trust God through Jesus Christ. Trust him for forgiveness. At the same time, trust him for enabling to walk in newness of life. Then, in faith obey him.

Your obedience plays no role in your justification. It is Christ's doing alone, not yours, that secures your right standing with God. But in your sanctification it is different. In your sanctification, Christ works in you what he has worked for you. In your sanctification, God enables you to put off sin and to walk in good works (see Ephesians 2:8–10). He works his salvation into your everyday life, and you work it out with fear and trembling. —"But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, 'God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.'" Humble yourself before the Lord and seek his full and free grace in Christ.

Click here for background on the author of Are You For Real?: Meditations in the Epistle of James for Secret or Family Worship.