James 4

Proud or Humble

4What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from the cravings ^bthat are at war within you? ^c2You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. You do not have because you do not ask. ³You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your evil desires. ^d

⁴Adulteresses! ^efDon’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world’s friend becomes God’s enemy. ^g5Or do you think it’s without reason the Scripture says that the Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously? ^hi

⁶But He gives greater grace. Therefore He says:

God resists the proud,

but gives grace to the humble. ^jk

⁷Therefore, submit to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. ^l8Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people! ^m9Be miserable and mourn and weep. Your laughter must change to mourning and your joy to sorrow. ⁿ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

¹¹Don’t criticize one another, brothers. He who criticizes a brother or judges his brother criticizes the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. ^o12There is one lawgiver and judge ^pwho is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? ^q

Our Will and His Will

¹³Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” ^r14You don’t even know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes. ^s

¹⁵Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. ^t17So it is a sin for the person who knows to do what is good and doesn’t do it. ^u