September 23, 2021 (Thursday)
James now launches us into a discussion about our internal
motives. “What is the source of conflict among you? What
is the source of your disputes? Don’t they come from your cravings that are at
war in your own lives?” [CEB 4:1 CEB] Quarrels, conflicts, disputes, and
fights; oh my! And off we skip past seriously reconciling our internal desires
(lusts, cravings) with our walk with Jesus.
Those external conflicts we experience, according to James,
are triggered by our internal desires. Call them passions (ESV, NIV), cravings
(CEB), or lusts (KJV) it all boils down to our sinful self being selfish. James
puts this in very dark language, “You long for something you don’t have, so you commit murder.
You are jealous for something you can’t get, so you struggle and fight. You
don’t have because you don’t ask.” [James 4:2 CEB] Did James just
say murder? Yikes.
John reflecting back to Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” states,
“Anyone who hates
a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal
life residing in him.” [1 John 3:15
NIV] Conflict causes division. Those hard feelings, if left uncheck to run
wild, can become bitterness and hate. Any time we feel intense negative feelings
toward someone, its probable hate. You don’t have to murder someone to be
guilty of it… just hate them. As far as God is concerned, they’re the same.
We lack because we do not ask (pray). Trouble is when we do
ask… “You ask and
don’t have because you ask with evil intentions, to waste it on your own
cravings.” [James 4:3 CEB] There goes
those internal motivations of selfishness. God is not fooled by our prayers. He
knows our heart. My question at this point is; do we? Seriously, we are not
guilty of these dark things… are we?
When we create or are part of conflict, generally we are
talking. This behavior and the internal patterns that trigger them, seem childish
in contrast to the expected behaviors associated with maturity. I’m guessing
conflict and disputes occur when we open our mouth. Our tongue exposes what is
in our heart or proves our maturity. In education, the discussion used to be about
“expected outcomes.”
The expected outcome of our illegitimate desires will be
conflict. We are offended so we react. Sometimes they are in the form of
complaints (which are a symptom of unbelief, see Hebrews 3 – 4). If we do not
deal with our immature behavior, they will grow into bitterness and hatred. That’s
the pattern of sin James has already taught.
Possibly one issue at stake is we have a divided heart. Stay tuned, I’ll cover that next time…
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