Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. James 4:8
It has been said that a good definition for the word “insanity” is “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” At some point, we have to be able to understand when something is not working. This is particularly true when it comes to our sins. As we discover the negative consequences that sinning and going against God have, we have to realize that our sin is not working for us. Instead, our sin is working against us. If we want to see different results from our behavior, we have to turn away from sin and turn back to God.
When the younger son in Jesus' parable in Luke 15 found himself at "rock bottom," He finally turned back to his father. He had asked his father for his share of his inheritance, ran away, and ultimately spent all of his money. As a result, he found himself starving, feeding pigs, and entirely at the end of himself. Finally, Jesus said, this younger son "came to his senses, [and] said to himself, 'At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father" (verses 17-18). He had no place left to go and understood that the best place for him was at his father's home. It was time for him to return to his father.
As we have discovered during our Bible study this week, this younger son represents us. We have all sinned against God. That is not the end of our story, however. We have the opportunity to turn back to God. James says it this way in James 4, "Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your heart, for your loyalty is divided between God and this world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy" (verses 8-9). We are to turn away from our sins to God with repentant and remorseful hearts, deeply grieved by our sins. When we do, James promises that God will come close to us. We must, however, take a step toward Him. Will you turn away from your sin and back to Him today?
Is there a temptation or sin in your life that you need to turn away from? It's time to take the steps to walk away from that sin. Admit your sin to someone you trust and ask for help, invite someone to help keep you accountable, or share your struggles with your small group. Take steps starting today to turn away from temptation and sin and turn to God.
James 4:1-10
1What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
4 You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. 5 Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. 6 And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say,
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.
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