God wants us to humble ourselves and realize we need Him.
He want us to not be prideful and try to make it though life on our own. He is waiting on us to draw near to Him. He won’t force us, but is patiently and lovingly waiting on us to come to Him.
We are innately sinful creatures, slaves to sin, being wooed by the devil and the temptations placed in front of us. We think it’s easier to give in and go with the flow and be like the world around us. And maybe it is in some ways. “Don’t rock the boat.” But you know what Jesus did?
He rocked the boat.
He showed us how to submit to God’s will even when it’s hard. He showed us that God’s way isn’t always easy, in terms of what it may cost us in the world’s eyes. But you know what else He said?
He said that if we take His yoke upon us, it will be easy. He wants to help us carry our burdens. To help us resist temptation. He wants us to draw ever nearer to Him and be filled with His Spirit. He wants us to be wholly committed to Him.
What he doesn’t want is for us to try to straddle the fence between Him and the world. In v. 8, James says to “purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.” He tells his readers to be sorrowful and mournful for not being close and committed to God. We are to cling to Him and rely on Him. To humble ourselves. 1 Peter 5:6 and James 4:10 use almost identical verbiage telling us if we will humble ourselves, we will be honored by God.
Jesus tells us the same thing in Luke 14:7-11. He values humility, not thinking more of ourselves than we are.
Because without Him, we are nothing.
In Jesus’s talk about being the True Vine in John 15, in v. 5 He says, “…For apart from Me you can do nothing.” He of course doesn’t literally mean that we can not accomplish anything at all without Him. But the things that count, the things that last, that are eternal and life-giving – these things come through Christ.
