Day 324

Ezekiel 40:28–41:26; James 4:1-17; Psalm 118:19-29; Proverbs 28:3-5

WE BEGAN OUR reading from James today with a simple question: “What is causing the quarrels and fights among you?” (James 4:1). James led us to an answer with a penetrating rhetorical question: “Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?” (James 4:1).

We can almost feel the snap in those words. James went on to explain that conflict arises because we think we don’t have what we desire or deserve. When we sense this lack within ourselves, we may use domination tactics to take it by force from others. And “quarrels and fights” break out.

When we find a deficit within our lives and try to balance the scales by forcing our will on others, we’re going to come up empty, because we’re looking in the wrong place. James summed it up like this:

You don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong —you want only what will give you pleasure.

James’s intent wasn’t to hurl condemnation. He was working his way to the root cause of all of this: “Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God” (James 4:4).

When we try to get our identity by following the way of the culture, then we’ve gotten it so backward that, according to James, we’ve put ourselves at odds with God. That is not an inconsequential observation.

But what does James have to say about next steps? We find the answer in another of the New Testament’s most-quoted verses:

Humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. . . . Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

Let’s invite the Holy Spirit to guide our hearts today to the places where our loyalties are divided. This is the source of conflict within. These are the places where we’re trying to find an identity that only God can truly provide.

MEDITATION:

Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.