1What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.
To covet is to desire to have what belongs to others. Many a war has been fought because of this.
Conflicts and disputes among believers are always harmful. James explains these quarrels are a result of our evil desires battling within us – we want more possessions, more money, higher status, more recognition. When we want these things badly enough, we fight in order to obtain them. Instead, we should submit ourselves to God, asking Him to help rid us of our selfishness and trust Him to provide our needs.
3When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you
may spend what you get on your pleasures.
Sometimes it seems God doesn’t answer some prayers. Verse 3 tells us God DOES NOT answer all prayers. The reason for unanswered prayer is when the person praying is asking for the gratification of their own worldly pleasures. When we ask in selfishness, God does not answer selfish prayers.
So is James saying we shouldn’t want to enjoy life? Of course not! But these pleasures cannot be placed above God or other people. Pleasure that keeps us from pleasing God is sinful. When we seek pleasure at others’ expense or at the expense of obeying God, that’s when our pleasures become sinful.
4You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? 6But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
Adulterous people? God is calling people who love the world ‘spiritual adulterers’ because they cannot love both God and the world. This is the same as cheating on your spouse.
Verse 5 seems to confuse even the greatest theologians. The same Greek word, pneu'ma, is used to mean "spirit of God", "human spirit", "evil spirit", and "Jesus' own spirit". So it is difficult to interpret exactly which meaning is referred to here. Some believe the word ‘spirit’ here is referring to the spirit of mankind that causes us to have fleshly desires. (Sin has its origin in man’s flesh.) Others believe it is referring to the Holy Spirit of God, which feels jealousy when other things are placed above Him in our hearts and minds.
In verse 6, James is quoting Proverbs 3:34. God will only be able to help us if we humble ourselves. Sin is forgiven by the grace of our Lord, but pride will stand in the way of God’s grace.
God opposes the proud and He is always available with grace when we need it.
7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your
laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Through the Holy Spirit, we have the power to resist Satan and make him flee from us. As Christians, we have three enemies we must guard against: the flesh, the world, and Satan.
These passages suggest the need of unceasing self-examination. We need to constantly draw nigh to God, cleanse our hands, purify our hearts and to humble ourselves. Submission and humility are the secret to obtaining God’s grace.
‘Come near to God and He will come near to you.’ I like this verse because it assures me God will not turn away from me when I reach out to Him.
Double-Minded: This is an expansion of Jesus’ statement in Matthew 6:24, that a person cannot serve God and worldly things. Also similar to John’s warning against Love of the World in I John 2:15-17.
Matthew 6:24: "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
I John 2:15-17: "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."
Sin means we have offended God and merit His judgment. Sin must be treated with due abhorrence.
Is James telling us it is wrong to laugh and be joyful? No, he is saying if we are sinners or trying to live a double life (partially as Christians and partially enjoying worldly things), we should repent and humble ourselves. This is how we receive the grace of God. When he says ‘grieve, mourn and wail, he means for us to be sorrowful for sins and be repentant, not simply say ‘oops, I’m sorry’ and continue on our way.
James has given us five ways we can come near to God.
1. Submit to God (vs. 4:7) Yield to His authority and will, and commit your life to Him and His control.
2. Resist the devil (vs. 4:7) Don’t allow Satan to entice and tempt you.
3. Wash your hands and purify your hearts (vs. 4:8) Lead a pure life. Be cleansed from sin. Replace your desire to sin with your desire to experience God’s purity.
4. Grieve and mourn and wail (vs. 4:9) Be sincerely sorrowful for your sins. Don’t be afraid to express deep heartfelt sorrow for what you have done.
5. Humble yourself before the Lord (vs. 4:10) and He will lift you up. Recognize the fact that your worth comes from God alone. Despite our human shortcomings, God reaches out to us in love and gives us worth and dignity.
11Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or
judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are
not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
Back to using the tongue, but this time he is pointing out how absurd it is for us to set ourselves up as judge of another sinner.
How is speaking against another person also speaking against ‘the law’?
The ‘royal law’ is "loving one another". When you criticize someone, you are not showing love toward that person. Try to always say things which are beneficial to others and this will help cure you of finding fault, increasing your ability to obey God’s law.
James is telling us there is only one law-giver and one judge.
By judging others, we are trying to put ourselves in God’s place, or in essence, playing God.
13Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.
God has a definite plan for each of His people, but we have ‘free will’ and have the choice to choose our way or His. When we pray, or when we make plans for our future, we should always be asking for His will to be done in our lives.
Your future is in God’s hands, so don’t be making plans for the future without considering they might change. When you make plans, leave room for change, because God may have other plans for you. If you put God’s desires at the center of your plans, He won’t disappoint you.
Don’t be deceived into thinking you have lots of time remaining to live for Christ, to enjoy your loved ones, or to do what you know you should. Live for God today, then no matter when your life ends, you will have fulfilled God’s plan for your life.
If you know you should do something good, but you don’t do it, you are sinning.
We all know if we do something we shouldn’t do, we are sinning. But here is a new slant on it. If you neglect to do what is right, that is also a sin. It’s a sin to speak evil of someone; but it is also a sin to avoid someone when you know he or she needs your friendship. So we need to be more diligent in helping others. Always be willing to help as the Holy Spirit guides you.
Consider this:
If you knew you only had 3 months to live, what are some things you would want to do? What would become most important in your life? Are those things, which are most important to you, also what is most important to God for your life? Will you proceed with your will, or bend to God's will?
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