This morning I felt like I should read from James. It is always important to get ready for James, as He is quite straight-forward in his speech. I do appreciate that fact. The verses for this morning are from James 4:1-10 NIV:
[1] 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.
[4] "You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. [5] Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us ? [6] But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
[7] Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. [9] Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. [10] Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."
I was originally going to start with verse 4, but that seemed like a rough opening line! :-)
James is addressing our present state, that of being a new creation (See 2 Cor 5:17 and Gal 6:15) living in our old-creation mindset. We are meant for eternal and Kingdom purposes, and in Christ we are able to do join ourselves to His ministry, His purpose. Our common issue is that we struggle to look beyond ourselves and our old ways of thinking. Our natural proclivity is to be concerned about ourselves first and foremost, I guess you could say we have a bit of a survival instinct. We embrace this to the extent that we effectively "worship" our wants and desires.
If we look around us, we see many great examples of how we should live, how we should treat ourselves, what we should eat, what we should wear, what we should drive, where we should live, all presented to us in the most appealing packages by the marketing companies who are appealing to our wants and desires.
As Christians we are to worship God, first and foremost in our lives, and the temptation is to try to worship both our wants and God. In a covenant relationship, such as marriage, being in love with and actively engaging in loving another is adultery, and James just comes out swinging with that term. He softens it a bit by calling it friendship with the world, but that is still an issue. He calls us to embrace a focus on God alone, to resist the temptation of thinking only about ourselves.
I think that many of us would consider it a bit unnatural, maybe even abnormal, if we meet a person who is more concerned about others, let along God, than themselves. I remember a young family from our church long ago. They got a call from school about their 7-8 year old daughter. The teacher was concerned for her, because she was so empathetic and compassionate that she would give her mittens or coat away, on cold days, to children who were lacking. She would give food away at lunch and just seemed to have an abnormal lack of self-concern. The teacher was gravely concerned, and the parents had to explain that their child was just very compassionate and embraced the teachings of Christ.
I have quoted many times, Paul's wonderful encouragement from Philippians 2:1-4 NIV:
[1] "Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, [2] then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. [3] Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, [4] not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."
If we were to meet someone like this, I think we would be slightly uncomfortable, which is really just the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I know I enjoy the things I like and want and don't like feeling that I should lay them aside for the sake of someone else. I certainly don't enjoy putting others needs before my own. At times I have an absurdly vain imagination, where I am the center of everyone's attention. I am fine with others who agree with my opinions, just as long as I don't have to change mine.
James rightly calls this all pride. I don't think of myself as a prideful individual, just someone who has above average intelligence, and usually has a balanced and correct perspective. :-) I like to soften the truth so I feel better about myself, but the truth is I need to really look at my inner thoughts and pull the reins back on my self-focus and wants. Rather than only focusing on saying no to myself, James encourages an engagement towards God, which is really the point. its not enough to say no to ourselves, we need to say yes to something else, namely God! If we come near to Him, He will come near to us!
This morning I am encouraged to look in teh mirror and see myself more clearly! I am encouraged to look at what I spend my time and energy doing. I am encouraged to change my thinking, to change my actions, to consider others before I consider my own wants and desires. And primarily I am encouraged to more fully embrace a life lived for God.
Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment