--- title: "Warnings against Worldliness" description: "A look at why fighting for what we want is failing, and how shifting our focus from pride to genuine connection with the Divine is the only way forward." image: "" book: "James" bookId: "JAS" testament: "new" startChapter: 4 startVerse: 1 endChapter: 5 endVerse: 6 coversChapters: [4,5] aiTitle: "The Great Humility Reset: A Guide to Getting Back on Track" aiDescription: "A look at why fighting for what we want is failing, and how shifting our focus from pride to genuine connection with the Divine is the only way forward." hasAiStory: true location: "" persons: ["God","devil"] hashtags: ["humility","judgment","repentance","faith"] genre: "epistle" readingTime: 3 type: "adaptive" slug: "JAS/warnings-against-worldliness" canonicalId: "JAS.4.1-5.6" chronologicalOrder: 1568 relatedSlugs: ["1JN/the-first-test-of-fellowship","ROM/walking-by-the-spirit","JAS/genuine-faith","JHN/the-hatred-of-the-world-persecution-foretold","MAT/jesus-questions-the-pharisees","PRO/the-blessings-of-wisdom","ROM/function-of-the-law","MAT/the-lord-sees-what-is-done-in-secret","GAL/authentication-of-the-messenger","1PE/the-living-stone-and-chosen-people","1JN/the-fourth-test-of-fellowship","2CO/pauls-exhortation","1PE/cast-your-cares-on-him","GAL/walking-by-the-spirit","JHN/ask-and-you-will-receive","TIT/heirs-of-grace-avoid-divisions-final-remarks-and-greetings","1CO/sexual-immorality","1JN/the-second-test-of-fellowship","MAT/jesus-announces-the-kingdom-of-heaven","PRO/the-selfishness-of-the-unfriendly","PSA/psalm-138-a-thankful-heart","ISA/judgement-on-jerusalem-and-judah","NUM/the-people-complain","JHN/jesus-prayer","PRO/warnings-against-foolishness","JAS/hearing-and-doing","JER/jeremiahs-woes","LUK/the-lords-prayer-ask-seek-knock","1TI/instructions-concerning-the-church-2","JUD/a-greeting-from-jude-gods-judgment-on-the-ungodly"] prevSlug: "JAS/the-wisdom-from-above" nextSlug: "JAS/the-return-of-the-lord" --- It is time for an honest check-in. Everywhere you look, people are at each other's throats. Why? It comes down to a simple, painful truth: we are fighting because we are obsessed with getting what we want, but we refuse to actually ask the right person for it. We are chasing our own appetites, and when that fails, we turn to conflict. The core issue is a divided loyalty. You cannot be best friends with a world that prioritizes greed and status while also claiming to be on [God's](/persons/god) side. It is a binary choice—you are either turning toward the prideful culture around you or you are leaning into the grace that is offered to the humble. The formula is simple but difficult: submit to God, draw near to Him, and watch as your self-centeredness starts to fade. We also need to talk about how we treat our neighbors. Slandering one another or acting like we are the supreme judge of someone else's character is a total waste of energy. There is only one person qualified to be the judge, and it is not you. When you obsess over someone else's failures, you are effectively setting yourself up as an authority that you were never meant to hold. And for those of you who think you have your entire future mapped out, consider this: your life is essentially a puff of fog that appears for a second and then vanishes. Stop boasting about your business deals and your plans for next year. Instead, start operating with the humble mindset that you are only here if the universe—or rather, the Lord—allows it. Thinking you are in total control is just a form of pride. Finally, a word to those who have built their lives on hoarding wealth at the expense of others. Your luxury has come at a cost that is now coming due. The wages you have withheld from the people who did the actual work are literally crying out for justice. You have treated your own lives like a long holiday, oblivious to the fact that you have been fattening yourselves up for a difficult fall. It is time to wake up, get humble, and start living for something that actually lasts. ### A Warning against Pride What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you? You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask. And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures. You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward [God](/persons/god)? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God. Or do you think the Scripture says without reason that the Spirit He caused to dwell in us yearns with envy? But He gives us more grace. This is why it says:“God opposes the proud,but gives grace to the humble.” ### Drawing Near to God Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the [devil](/persons/devil), and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you. Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. And if you judge the law, you are not a practitioner of the law, but a judge of it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? ### Do Not Boast about Tomorrow Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.” You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your proud intentions. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do, yet fails to do it, is guilty of sin. ### A Warning to the Rich Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you. Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and consume your flesh like fire.
You have hoarded treasure in the last days. Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous, who did not resist you.

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