Humanism is earthly wisdom. It has a form of godliness but it denies the power of God to transform a life. Humanism is what James 3 says is earthly wisdom. “If you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.” (James 3:14-16). Humanism is what sparked the “self-help” revolution of which still is in the hearts of many humans. Not only is it is a multi-billion dollar industry, the fruit of it is exactly what James said, earthly, sensual, demonic, it is self-seeking, henceforth why it is called self-help. It does not benefit the person trapped in humanism and it does not help anyone who is the connected to the one who is self-helping.

This weekend I met a man named Robert and he is the brother of my friend Sharon Ward Shirley. We were discussing the root of all roots in our lives and Robert said, he believes it is selfishness. Both Sharon and I said, that’s it. Selfishness is the root of pride, fear, anger, a whole host of issues in our life. It was a powerful Saturday morning conversation and so when I read this in James 3 this morning, it actually was spurred from John 3. Listen to what John says about Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.” (John 3:30-31). Humanism is earth speak and it is not the wisdom of God, just look at the fruitof it.

If humanism stayed in its lane called the world, we would not have a problem, but humanism has invaded the church and brought confusion to believers about biblical wisdom, which is selfless, not selfish. Many in the church lack wisdom, not because they are stupid, but because they are selfish. We must repent of our humanism if we are going to operate in the kingdom. All kingdom activity is selfless, it is others focused and it is about laying our lives down. If that makes you nervous it is because of the humanism in you that God wants to detox out of you. It is time I to decrease so He can increase.