Stay Tender

“Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” (Jas 4:9-10 AV)

In James chapter four, the three enemies of the saint are listed and expounded upon.  The devil, the world, and the flesh are all there.  James is encouraging the sinner to trust Christ to overcome them, and encouraging the saint that by prayer and faith they can be overcome.  If you are saved, the new man that you have become yearns for a sin-free life.  A new attitude regarding sin is in our hearts and souls.  We may not be successful in overcoming it, but our feelings about it have changed.  We may enjoy the immediate pleasure which comes from sin, but if we are saved, there is tremendous guilt that follows.  Paul teaches us in the book of Ephesians that we are made alive in Christ.  What that means is that prior to salvation, we had a seared conscious.  Although we could feel guilt, it was not always what we felt.  When the Holy Spirit enlivens the conscience, then we are bothered by our sin far more than before salvation.  James now takes this truth a step further.  He promises that if we allow the Holy Spirit to have His perfect work in our minds and hearts, then the LORD will lift us up.  He will comfort our hearts in forgiveness and affirmation.  James gives instructions to the saint seeking godliness.  He tells us to be afflicted, mourn, and weep.  He instructs us to allow the Holy Spirit to change our joy and laughter into mourning and heaviness.  Only when we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts in this manner can be lifted up out of our habits of sin.

One of my sons is more sensitive than to other two.  In his sort of way.  The other two are also sensitive, but they are motivated a bit differently.  One is motivated by being the best one can be.  Failure is a great embarrassment.  So, when he fails, he takes it hard and sometimes, he finds it hard to recover.  Another is sensitive to the needs or pain of others.  He is sacrificial to a fault.  He easily internalizes what others are going through and will react to help them in any way he can.  Then there is the one of whom I speak.  He is sensitive to the perception of acceptance by an authority figure.  He needs to know he is pleasing the one who is over him.  As his father, all I had to do was to express displeasure or disappointment and he would confess to everything – even that which he didn’t do.  He would melt with a simple look.  All three of my sons were exceptional children.  Other than very minor things, I didn’t have to correct them for behavioral problems.  They never rebelled.  They never got into serious trouble.  They never gave me any serious challenges.  It was that look that kept them pretty much under control.  The thing is, especially with the one of whom I am making an example, they remained tender to what their dad felt and thought.  We may have had our disagreements, and they eventually grew up with thoughts and ideas of their own, they always and still do, remain sensitive to what I think and how I feel.  It is that sensitivity that continues to keep them from trouble.  Not my opinion, but God’s opinion is the one of greatest concern.  They have never lost that tenderness they had as children.

If we are to overcome persistent sin, there needs to be a pondering heart.  To gain victory over stubborn wickedness, there needs to be a soft heart that the Spirit can break.  In the above verse, it is up to the saint.  The Spirit can affect these things.  He can bring sorrow, mourning, and affliction.  But He will not force it.  This operation of the Holy Spirit can only become effective as we yield to Him.  Affliction, mourning, and weeping are not something we can conjure up.  It comes by way of meditation and humility.  It comes by the Holy Spirit bringing to our memory the word of God and comparing that which we have done against it.  It comes when we realize what we have lost and what there is to gain.  When we come to the place we miss the sweet fellowship of the Father by obedience and faith, then the mourning and weeping can start.  This is an operation of the Holy Spirit.  We cannot fake it.  We cannot manipulate it.  It only comes as we yield control and allow Him to have His way in our hearts and minds.