Choose A Horse!

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. 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.” James 4:6-7

Oppose - to be in competition, conflict, or battle with a...fighting force; Gives - to allow somebody to have something such as power or a right; a verb used to indicate that somebody presents or delivers something that he or she owns to another person to keep or use

Resist - to remain unaltered by the damaging effect of something; to yield, to accept somebody else's authority or will, especially reluctantly or under pressure. Draw/come near - to move in a particular direction, often alongside, toward, or away from something else, and with a smooth steady motion

I have chosen these definitions in an effort to expand on these powerful words of James. He spoke to his audience with a sense of urgency and exhortation. Throughout the book of James he continuously addressed his audience as his brothers. His exhortations were grounded in love but bluntness with no flowery language.

I remember another time when I heard bluntness grounded in love. Bruce and I were trying to make a life-altering decision. We held our prism to the light a million times and had turned it every single direction trying to see the reflections of our decision. Finally, my father-in-law, in his loving wisdom, looked at us and said, ‘You are riding two horses with one foot on each – choose a horse.’ We will never forget that image and within the week a decision had been made.

This image comes to mind with James’ words this morning. We go through life with one foot on two horses – pride and humility, our will and God’s will. Applying our definitions this morning I am drawn to fact that the word opposes is not an attitude but an action. It is God’s desire to present us in both this life and the next with everything He possesses. He will ride into battle and fight everything that may prevent us from this goal. God opposes the attitude of pride, not the person. He is aware that the horse that carries pride is the one the devil is leading and the horse that carries humility is the one on which He rides. ‘I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war.’ Rev. 19:11

So I ask myself this morning, why risk it? Why keep that foot on the back of pride? Why not, in everything, submit myself to God and receive what He desires to give me? By simply lifting one foot off of the back of a horse named Pride and faithfully riding alongside Faithful and True, I can remain unaltered by the harmful force of the devil.

So, in my desire for you to have all through Christ, I say with the same love in which my father-in-law said, ‘Choose a horse!’