God, or the World?

“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” - James 4:1-10

Well, we know from the previous verses in James how to effectively be more peaceable people, but do we know what causes our fights and quarrels? Most the time, we fight cause we feel like it, and that’s all that really matters, right? Wrong. Why do we fight with others? Because our passions are at war within us. Oh, you wanna feel better about yourself? Gossiping about others isn’t the way to accomplish that. You want what rich people have? Stealing isn’t the way to accomplish that. Well, I suppose it’s one way, but James doesn’t suggest it. Oh, and by the way, why aren’t you receiving what you ask for in your prayers? Because your selfish. Because you want to spend what you ask for on your own selfish passions. Have fun whore. 

“What did he just say?”

I said have fun whore. 

What do I mean? Check out what James says: “You adulterous people!” Literally he is calling people like this a whore. Quit saying you believe in God and living for your own selfish passions. Quit asking for worldly things and falling in love with worldly items. You say you love God, but you secretly have a relationship with the world. The bad news? God knows. The good news? Draw close to God and he will draw close to you. 

You better change. If you expect that you can come to the end of your life and offer God some worldly bribe to let you into heaven, your dead wrong. If this is your plan, you better expect hell. However, if you are willing to dedicate yourself to God, repent from the worldly love you once had and humble yourself that the Lord may exalt you, your situation will be significantly more enjoyable. How do you turn from your love for worldly things? Here are some ideas:

1. Get rid of it. You addicted to sex? Get rid of it. Video games? Get rid of it. It will be a difficult path but the reward will be well worth it. Try having an accountability partner who helps you out of the difficulty of getting over your addictions.

2. Your gonna die. Yeah, thats right, your gonna die. Everyone is, so start believing it. Quit being in denial that you will live on this planet forever and start preparing for the life after this one. With the right perspective on life, you might begin to spend your time a little bit wiser. 

3. Practice Discipline. Get rid of a bad habit and start a good habit. For example, I got rid of a video game I was playing way too much and started writing these blog posts everyday. The more time spent with God, the better.