“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”

James 4:7-10

Dear HBIC Family,

I have often found it quite remarkable that the songs of yesterday often pop up in my head at seemingly the most random times. Quite often, I may not remember how exactly an event happened, or all the details of a story. However, I can sing word-for-word songs from elementary school all the way up through college and beyond. One of the ways songs have power is that they often stay with us long after the moments and memories fade.

As someone who shares messages with our congregation regularly, it is also not lost upon me that, for most of our people, the songs we sing have stronger staying power than the individual messages I preach. A mentor warned me of this, going out of the way to say it, as if to protect me from a bruised ego. Nevertheless, as a huge fan of great music and someone who grew up in church, I knew this already. Our messages form us, and our songs comfort us. Our messages blend in, our songs stick out. And that’s ok, because God can use them both. 

Growing up at Collingdale Gospel Chapel, one of the choruses we often sang went like this:

Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord

Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord

And he (and he)

Shall lift (shall lift)

You up (higher and higher)

And he shall lift you up

Like many Sunday School choruses, this one is easy to sing, and even easier to remember. It is taken directly from Scripture (James 4:10), and instructs us as we sing along to the familiar melody. There are so many times that, for me, these familiar choruses have become not only a comfort, but prayers to God as well. And that’s the other part of the power of song: not only can it take us back to a specific time and place, but it can remind us of a needed truth we learned, and now have to learn again or at least hold on to yet again. 

This week, we will be continuing our James (Living Out Our Faith) series by focusing on James 4:1-10. I am very excited that our old friend John Yeatts will be with us to share a message on being Near to God. As you prepare for this week’s services, I would like to invite you to read and meditate on James 4:1-10. As you reflect, I would like to ask you to focus on the following questions:

How are your present desires leading to fights and quarrels and not life-giving harmony?

What does it mean for you to be a friend to God?

How are you living humbly and submitting to God each day?

Of what must you let go to grab and keep hold of God and the things of God?

What does nearness to God look like for you?

This week, we will also be welcoming Seven, a gifted group of students from Messiah with passionate heart for Jesus and sharing God’s love through worship. I am excited for them to come and join us in both services this week. I believe they will be a blessing to us, and I pray that we can be a blessing and an encouragement to them as well. 

What a blessing to know that we can draw near to God, and that God draws nearer and nearer to us. James teaches us again why it’s important to live by the Spirit. Sisters and brothers, life by the Spirit always bears good fruit. When we submit to God, we leave behind selfishness and pride. When we resist the devil, he flees from us. And when we come humbly before the Lord our God, God lifts us up!!

God bless you all.

Love in Christ,

Pastor Hank (James 4:7-10)