Quarreling and Fighting

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Scripture: James 4:1-3 (NIV)

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

Devotion:

            Our world today is remarkable for the amount of quarreling and fighting that goes on in it. People everywhere are caught up in battle. The experts say we are in a “culture war” with no end in sight. When we read today’s scripture passage from James, we realize that perhaps ours is not such a unique situation. The world in James’ day seems to have been marred by the same issues we experience today. The people to whom James originally addressed this letter appear to have been just as self-centered as the people of today are. They were willing to fight and even kill to get what they wanted in life.

            As James sent this warning to the people of his day, so I repeat this warning to us today. Scripture is clear; we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. If we wish to please God, we must seek the good of the place where we live. We must be bringers of peace not strife and violence. How did we become so lost? The answer is clear, we turned our gaze from the worship and adoration of the Lord to ourselves and our desires and satisfying those desires regardless of the cost in human terms.

            Living in this way separates us from God. God has never moved away from us, but we have moved away from him. We seek the satisfaction of our own desire at any price. We will go anywhere and do anything to satisfy our appetites. We have replaced God in our lives with the idol of self-gratification. There is no limit to our self-indulgence. So, what can we do to change this situation?

            We must repent of our self-seeking ways and turn to the living God. We must renew our devotion to God. We must become lovers of our neighbors instead of lovers of self. We must glorify God with our lives and our words. If we return to God, we can be assured of his forgiveness. God will pour out his love on us once we have opened ourselves up to receive it. In fact, God always pours out his love and grace on us, however we must be open to receive it. Let us pray that we may be emptied of self and filled with the love of God for ourselves and our neighbors:

Prayer:

            Lord, we come to you as a people who are profoundly sorry that we have grieved you by our selfish ways. Cleanse us today of all selfish desires and ambitions and revive us with your Holy Spirit. Teach us to walk in the path of peace and harmony with those around us. Help us to constantly seek the good of our neighbor. May we give up selfishness and sinful desires that you may bless us with your presence. Amen. 

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