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Daily Devotionals
Bowen's Daily Meditations
Devotional: July 29th

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" Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up." - James 4:10.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord; that is, humble yourself truly; for his eye is as a flame of fire; and no mere pretense of humility will pass current with him. He does not ask you to conceal your pride from the observation of men, but to mortify it. He does not ask you to be humble merely in your addresses to him; for he is ever with you.

In order to humble yourself, know yourself. Pride grows in the atmosphere of falsehood. It is only by dint of lying that a soul maintains its pride. Let God reveal you to your self. Perhaps the esteem in which you are held by man, interposes a difficulty. You have a position in society. Men look up to you. They treat you with no little deference. Receiving thus attention and respect all the day long, it becomes difficult for you to entertain those deprecatory views of yourself that God requires. But, do men honor you for what is really commendable in you; or, for things that are merely adventitious, and that are found in innumerable instances connected with ungodliness? If they honor you for wealth, influence, or even for talent, call to mind that there are thousands of worthless men in the world that surpass you in these respects. It is in direct violation of the command of God that men give their admiration to these things. What they have not learned, you should quickly learn, namely, to recognize God as the giver of all good gifts, and to ascribe unto him honor and glory. It is of more importance that you should be humble, than that you should he wealthy and looked up to. And you know what Christ hath told us to do, when cherished things hinder us from obtaining something better. It is with reference to the difficulties you now plead that Christ has said, " How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven." It is hard for them to humble themselves in the sight of God; and without humility there is no entering into the kingdom of heaven.

Perhaps you say, " No, I am not rich, but poor; mean in station; unknown to the men of the world; but God has bestowed his grace upon me and enabled me to walk in his paths; Christian brethren admire the work that God hath wrought in me, and their commendation hinders me from being clothed with humility." Hearken! your attainments are of a very superficial character, if humility, the knowledge of your own profound unworthiness, be not a constant tenant of your breast. Most imperfect and questionable is the fabric of your Christian character, if it be not founded broadly and solidly in humility. Just exactly therefore in the degree in which you are vain of your attainments, you condemn your attainments. Say unto pride, I have no need of thee until I have acquired self-knowledge and the deep conviction of my own utter unworthiness and weakness, and until my soul has got thoroughly imbued with the persuasion of its dependence on the grace of Christ for all things. Let me first obtain that humility without which every individual is but a loathsome leper in the universe of God. Then, if thou please, come to me; but thou shalt come in vain. Thou wilt find no footing on the landing-place of my soul. Thy proper place is with the wicked, the incorrigible, the base, the carnal, the devilish. The wickedest being in existence is the proudest. A man’s pride is ever commensurate with his blindness and alienation from God.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

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