August 24th

Submit and Resist

             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. Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

James 4: 7-10

            Submit yourselves to God.  Resist the devil.  These are the two main parts of this passage and the two main parts of the book of James as a whole.  There is a war for our hearts and our minds and we have the ability to choose who we follow and who we dig in our heels to oppose.

            This is not a post about abortion or gun rights or oppression or racism or politics.  This is more personal.  This is about the battle that rages in your chest and between your ears every morning when you wake up.  This is about hope and despair and which option we will choose to pursue.  The first thing that I do when my alarm goes off in the morning is to take a mental inventory of the day.  Who is awake?  Who slept poorly last night?  Where do people need to be today?  What are the appointments or classes or therapies that we have lined out for the day?  What are the challenges that are facing us today?  What do I need to remind my son of this morning to help him mentally prepare for changes to our routine?  What is going on at work that will disrupt my family and how can I minimize that?  Who has eaten?  Who has showered?  How are we as far as schedule for getting to school?

            I run through each of those…usually multiple times.  And then I compile all that information and figure out what role I need to play for that day.  Is today a focus on work kind of day?  Is today a focus on getting the house back under control kind of day?  Is today a drive kids around all day kind of day?  Is today a help navigate stressful situations kind of day?  Is today a focus on work and housework and stressful situations while driving kids and doing taxes and having meetings kind of day?

            No matter what kind of day I am facing, I find that there is a struggle that is going on inside of me.  Part of me wants to celebrate and be grateful and hope for good things for myself and my family.  Part of me wants to look at all the trouble spots and prepare for disappointment and failure and question whether any of the effort is worth it because today is going to be just as hard and miserable as my worst day ever and I should just brace myself for enduring another brutal day.

            That is not me.  Neither side of that debate is me going over the facts of my day.  That is Hope versus Despair in my mind and in my heart.  That is God versus Satan.  And I can choose who I listen to and who and I push back against.  The one that I accept will grow louder and become more natural.  The one that I reject will diminish…probably not fully go away, but definitely take a back seat.  Despair will always be the easier choice; it is what the world is selling.  But Hope leads to the better life.

            We have the freedom to choose who we will serve…who will be the driving voice in our lives and our actions.  Every day we have the choice.  Every day we open our eyes and decide whether today will be viewed through eyes of hope or eyes of despair.  Every day we show ourselves and the world and our children whether we truly believe God and His promises.  Every morning the voices are right there, asking for our attention and our allegiance.

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

A moment to reflect:

How can you draw near to God today?