James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a (NRSV)
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Verse 13Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. Verse 14But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Verse 15Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. Verse 16For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. Verse 17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. Verse 18And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.
Chapter 4Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? Verse 2You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. Verse 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. Verse 7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Verse 8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Devotion
Some people love conflict; most hate it. It is generally agreed upon that we live in one of the most polarized societies of all time. It seems that the Republican and the Democrat, the left and the right, are intent on proving the other wrong.
A simple reading of scripture shows us that conflict is thousands of years old. James writes, “Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from?" In asking this, James is much like the parent who asks his children a question, even though they already know the answer.
Earlier, James essentially said that conflict, disorder and wickedness come from our own greed, envy and selfishness. What is James' solution? “Draw near to God and God will drawn near to you.”
Jesus calls his followers to a different way of life—a radically different way of life. Jesus tells us love our enemies and bless those who persecute us.
The entire law and scriptures are summed up in the command to “Love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our soul and our entire mind, and love our neighbor as ourselves.” Living and loving this way is not easy, but it is the life to which Christ calls us.
Prayer
Gracious God, forgive us for those times when our insistence on having things our way separates us from one another and so from you. May we live and love in the way to which you have called us. May we draw near to you, so that we may live harmoniously with one another. Amen.