James 4: 6-10

According to most Christians, adultery is grounds for divorce. If you ask those same Christians, “Can Christ divorce his spiritually adulterous bride?” many will say no. They will tell you, once a bride always a bride. I find it interesting that many Christians give themselves more freedom to respond to a covenant breaker then they give to God. I did not write this article to address that theological question. Instead, let us look at God’s response to an adulterous bride that is repentant.

James is writing to Christians that the world has seduced. James tells those who have recognized their sin, regret it and are repentant, that the same grace that saved them as a sinner can reconcile them as a fallen Christian. He gives them systematic instructions. They are to humble themselves and submit themselves to God. I believe most people use the wrong definition for the word “submit” in this context. They understand it to mean, “Yield to a superior force or to the authority or will of another person”. I believe that the correct meaning is “to present to a person for consideration or judgment”. God does not want us to surrender to him to be a slave; he wants us to present ourselves to Him for His approval and consideration as a friend.

Having presented ourselves to Christ in humility, we must resist the devil. We must wash ourselves and purify our hearts and minds. We should experience grief, and we should mourn. We have broken our covenant vows to God, and we have betrayed him. God in His grace will forgive us and as we draw near to him, He draws near to us.

A Christian seduced by the world is fallen. Often they have lost so much, the reputation, self-respect and quite often friends and family. Most importantly, they have lost their close relationship with God. They have fallen and in their own strength, they cannot get up. James tells us “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”