In James 4:6-10, God shows us a clear remedy for worldliness. James has stated very practically how we can make sure we are not living worldly, but in a relationship with God, through Christ.
1) Submit to God
2) Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
3) Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
4) Cleanse your hands, you sinners.
5) Purify your hearts, you double minded.
6) Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
7) Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
How will we know if we have truly repented and been sorrowful over our sins? Is there a way to know this...yes there is.
2 Corinthians 7:9-12 "As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God."
The sorrow of the world produces death, but the sorrow of a sinner over his/her sins produces repentance that leads to salvation. Susan Heck goes on to say this in her chapter on the Remedy for Worldliness that shows how we can know if our sorrow is a godly sorrow leading to repentance:
1) We will be careful to deal with the sins in our life.
2) We will cleanse ourselves by seeking forgiveness of God and others.
3) We will have indignation...which is simply a holy anger that we have allowed sins in our life that offend a Holy God.
4) We will exhibit a fear of God...not a fear of others or consequences.
5) We will have a vehement desire in our hearts to settle the issue and see the relationship restored.
6) Our zeal to remove sin will be evident.
7) We will no longer try to protect ourselves from punishment, no matter what the cost.
Thankfully God takes our sorrow, our mourning, and our tears and turns it all to JOY! Why....so that He may be glorified!
“Have you heard God’s blessing in your inmost being? Are the words “You are my beloved child, in whom I delight” an endless source of joy and strength?
Have you sensed, through the Holy Spirit, God speaking them to you? That blessing – the blessing through the Spirit that is ours through Christ – is what Jacob received, and it is the only remedy against idolatry. Only that blessing makes idols unneccesary.
As with Jacob, we usually discover this only after a life of ‘looking for blessing in all the wrong places.’ It often takes an experience of crippling weakness for us to finally discover it. That is why so many of the most God-blessed people limp as they dance for joy.”
- Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods (New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2009), 164.
