Young People's Group

But He Gives More Grace

by Mitchell Tan
November 13, 2015

WHAT KIND OF WISDOM DO YOU HAVE?

Did you know that the kind of wisdom we have will decide whether we would be given grace from God or not? This was something that James sought to address in his epistle. Basically, there are two kinds of wisdom in this world. There is the wisdom that is “earthly, sensual, demonic” (James 3:15). It is wisdom that is not from above and it is self-seeking and causes bitter envy and every evil thing. In contrast, there is the wisdom that is from above and it is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17). It is a wisdom that enables God’s people to always show good conduct and the things they do are always done in meekness and love (James 3:13). They would do things in a peaceable manner. The kind of wisdom we have and demonstrate in our life would determine whether the Lord would be gracious to us or not.

EARTHLY WISDOM CAUSES STRIFE AND ESTRANGEMENT WITH GOD

“Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?”
James 4:1

When people seek to hold on to earthly wisdom, which is from the evil one, it would produce strife, fights and even wars. Such things come out of their self-centred ways. The phrase “desire for pleasure” in Greek is where we derived the English word “hedonic” which means “devoted to pleasure”. It is when we seek to please ourselves that we covet and lust after things. We seek to cultivate friendship with the world and it makes us proud. Our affection for the world causes us to be estranged from the Lord and there would be enmity between Him and us. When we love the world, the love of the Father will not be in us (1 John 2:15).

BUT HE GIVES MORE GRACE

“But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:
‘God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.’”
James 4:6

The Lord does not grant grace to those who are proud and being guided by demonic wisdom. In fact, He would resist them. When King David was moved by the evil one to number his army in the text of 1 Chronicles 21, the Lord resisted him and judged him and the people of Israel. And yet, to those who are humble because they are wise and they exercise their faith, He gives His grace. There is a continuous flow of grace from our source of abundant grace, the Lord. In fact, He gives more grace than we ever need each day if we are wise and humble before Him. This was something that the Lord has affirmed in His word. James established this truth by quoting a verse from Proverbs 3:34. Let’s exercise faith in this truth that He does give more than enough grace to the humble.

HAVING THE HEAVENLY WISDOM AND THE FAITH TO HUMBLE OURSELVES BEFORE GOD

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up.”
James 4:10

The only wise response to God is to humble ourselves before Him. The word “humble” in Greek is the word “tapeinoó”. It means to make oneself lowly before others. This is a command from the book of James and our challenge is to obey the Lord’s word. When we humble ourselves, we would seek to submit to the Lord and stand against the evil one (James 4:7). Heavenly wisdom would cause us to yield to and rely on Him. We would also seek to draw near to Him and He would draw near to us. There is the challenge to cleanse ourselves from all the sins that we have in our life (James 4:8). We are to purify our hearts till we are no longer double-minded. When our wisdom is from above, we would seek to humble ourselves always before the Lord. In due time, He will lift us up.

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