An Unexpected Visitor

Some things in life simply show up in places you don’t expect them to. Like, the ten dollars you lost two years ago showing up in the pocket of your sister’s ski jacket; or the picture of your five year old self streaking in the grass suddenly appearing on the front of the refrigerator; or (my favorite) the lengthy journal entry you wrote about your brother's dreamy friend making it into your brother's hands. Mmhmm...about that...
Likewise, when some of my heart junk was suddenly pasted to the refrigerator and exposed for what it actually was, I was little surprised. The appearance of pride in my life was something that I thought had been gone for awhile. When I think of pride, I think of arrogance, hotheadedness, egotism, and other such belligerent attitudes. However, that's not always the case. Often--possibly more often than not--pride is subtle. At least, it is in my case.
When I first read this verse, I didn’t immediately think PRIDE, until I read it again slowly and the Holy Spirit illumined some things to me.
James 1:21-22 "Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."
Humbly accept the word. This is key. To humbly accept the word of God (meaning the Bible and the whatever He personally asks you to do) means that you don’t try to change the word. You don’t try to fit the word to your box of acceptable things that you want to hear. You don’t try to get around the word or find some way to not obey it. You accept it with humility, recognizing that the word of the Lord is fitting. It’s fitting for what you need to hear that day, in that moment. We must humble ourselves and accept whatever it is God is saying to us. And then, we must obey. Hearing the word isn’t enough. It’s important—it’s impossible to obey, if we don’t first hear—but it doesn’t stop there. We must act on what we’ve heard.
You see, when we choose to not obey the word of God, we’re deceiving ourselves. We’re basically saying to God, “ya know what? Thanks for the advice, but I got this. It sounds like a great idea, but maybe not so much for me right now.” Now, we may not be thinking this in our minds, when we choose to ignore the word of God, but this is what’s going on. Our actions are basically saying to God that we think we know better. That’s what the Bible calls PRIDE.
God hates pride. Proverbs 8:13 “To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.” Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:5 “The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.” Need I say more?
I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want pride in my life. Choosing to ignore the word of God and not be obedient is, honestly, what I was doing. There’s a saying “ignorance is bliss” that’s because “with knowledge comes responsibility.” Once we know what we must know, we’re fooling ourselves to think that we can get away without doing it and not be held responsible. James 4: 17 says “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.” Once we’ve heard, we must obey. I was deceiving myself into believe that I was in a better place than I was…I would be obedient later. The problem with later is that it never actually comes. Today is the day to stop making excuses. Lay down our pride. And obey.
Lord, give me the grace to be obedient to You, to walk with You, to follow You, to serve You. I choose to give my heart to You, to be obedient to You. Keep me accountable to that choice…give me the grace to walk it out. Keep me from willing sin, Lord. Purify my heart. Make me new.