The good fight against greed, selfishness and pride.

How can we fight the good fight against greed, selfishness and pride? James gives us four things we must do in James 4: 1 - 12.

1.  We must accept God’s will. In verse 7 James tells us: Submit yourselves, then, to God. When we submit to God we are acknowledging that his way is right. But submitting to God is more than that. It is giving him control of your life. To do that you must surrender to him.  Put God in charge of your life by obeying him.

2.  We must reject God’s enemy.   Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. How do you do this?

You do it by resisting the world’s evil philosophy of life. You do it by resisting what evil wants you to do.  Be smart. Be on your guard. The devil is trying to trip you.   He is trying to destroy you. He is not trying to help you. He wants to hurt you.

3.  You must also pursue God’s presence. In verse 8 James says, Come near to God and he will come near to you.  It is not enough to accept God’s will and reject God’s enemy. You must  pursue a living relationship with the living Lord.  We need to invest in eternity, because that’s where we are going to spend a very long time.

4.  Then we must receive God’s forgiveness.

Look at verses 8-10: Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your heart, you double-minded.  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.   This is the key to receiving God’s forgiveness.

And this is where humility comes in. It is humbling to ask God for forgiveness. It is humbling to ask anyone for forgiveness. But we need to do it. We need to do it, because it is the right thing to do and we need to do it because we need forgiveness.

Just think of how much conflict could be avoided if we were to say, "I was wrong, please forgive me."