JAMES 4:1-10
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,[a] 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[b]? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
"God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble."[c]
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've been memorizing the book of James for what seems like forever (and it almost has been). The cool thing about memorizing Scripture is that as I repeat it over and over in my head, I understand it better and better. Even though I've probably gone over James chapter one hundreds of times and could probably say it in my sleep, God teaches me new things through it even now. Currently, as I've been reviewing James 4, God has given me kind of a new understanding of the passage. The word "adulterous" in verse 4 really stands out to me. I've become so fascinated with the numerous extended metaphors found throughout the Bible, and this is one of them. The church is the "bride" of Christ. When the church chooses the world over Jesus, she is essentially having an affair with the world, as a woman has an affair with a man to whom she isn't married. Now, this is the not so beautiful part of the metaphor. What truly fascinates me is the other side of this metaphor. The church is the bride of Christ, waiting for her groom (Jesus) to come back for her. As a bride remains pure for her future husband, the church should be pure and ready for the return of her perfect groom. This picture was painted so beautifully for me last year in Zambia. One of my team members from Texas told us about how it was Jewish custom for a woman who was betrothed to be married to wait in her home for her groom to come for her after building a home for them. She would not know when he was coming. She just had to be ready. This is such the perfect picture of the relationship between the Christ and the Church. He has gone to prepare a place for us, and he is coming back. We don't know when he will return for us, but we have to be ready. We have to remain pure and faultless for Him.
However, I want to talk about the not so beautiful side as well, the times when we choose the world over Christ, when we have affairs with the world. You know, this passage is clear. We can't have the best of both worlds. It's Christ or the world. Friend or enemy of God. All or nothing. When we choose the world, we are essentially cheating on God. We are looking him in the face and telling him that whatever we put above him--and that can be anything, even good things--is more valuable to us than he is at that moment. He wants are full attention. Our total submission. It's so easy to give in to this world because it's so in our faces and so quick to fix our problems while God doesn't always seem to be as close and might want us to be more patient, but we've got to get past our impatient and shortsighted desires and realize the greatness and sovereignty of our God. We know that he is greater than anything this world has to offer, but when it comes to instant gratification versus waiting on the Lord, it's hard to be patient and pass up what might seem better at the time. The fact that choosing Christ is hard, however, is no excuse. Jesus tells us that following him won't be easy, but it will be worth it. I don't know about you, but for me, if following the Creator of the Universe who loved me enough to send His Son to die for me means passing up my selfish desires so that He can receive glory, then I'm willing.
Let's remember the seriousness of our sin and the beauty of our redemption through Christ. May this perspective affect the way in which we live our lives, in constant awareness that Christ is better and that our total allegiance is to him and him alone.
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,[a] 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[b]? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
"God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble."[c]
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've been memorizing the book of James for what seems like forever (and it almost has been). The cool thing about memorizing Scripture is that as I repeat it over and over in my head, I understand it better and better. Even though I've probably gone over James chapter one hundreds of times and could probably say it in my sleep, God teaches me new things through it even now. Currently, as I've been reviewing James 4, God has given me kind of a new understanding of the passage. The word "adulterous" in verse 4 really stands out to me. I've become so fascinated with the numerous extended metaphors found throughout the Bible, and this is one of them. The church is the "bride" of Christ. When the church chooses the world over Jesus, she is essentially having an affair with the world, as a woman has an affair with a man to whom she isn't married. Now, this is the not so beautiful part of the metaphor. What truly fascinates me is the other side of this metaphor. The church is the bride of Christ, waiting for her groom (Jesus) to come back for her. As a bride remains pure for her future husband, the church should be pure and ready for the return of her perfect groom. This picture was painted so beautifully for me last year in Zambia. One of my team members from Texas told us about how it was Jewish custom for a woman who was betrothed to be married to wait in her home for her groom to come for her after building a home for them. She would not know when he was coming. She just had to be ready. This is such the perfect picture of the relationship between the Christ and the Church. He has gone to prepare a place for us, and he is coming back. We don't know when he will return for us, but we have to be ready. We have to remain pure and faultless for Him.
However, I want to talk about the not so beautiful side as well, the times when we choose the world over Christ, when we have affairs with the world. You know, this passage is clear. We can't have the best of both worlds. It's Christ or the world. Friend or enemy of God. All or nothing. When we choose the world, we are essentially cheating on God. We are looking him in the face and telling him that whatever we put above him--and that can be anything, even good things--is more valuable to us than he is at that moment. He wants are full attention. Our total submission. It's so easy to give in to this world because it's so in our faces and so quick to fix our problems while God doesn't always seem to be as close and might want us to be more patient, but we've got to get past our impatient and shortsighted desires and realize the greatness and sovereignty of our God. We know that he is greater than anything this world has to offer, but when it comes to instant gratification versus waiting on the Lord, it's hard to be patient and pass up what might seem better at the time. The fact that choosing Christ is hard, however, is no excuse. Jesus tells us that following him won't be easy, but it will be worth it. I don't know about you, but for me, if following the Creator of the Universe who loved me enough to send His Son to die for me means passing up my selfish desires so that He can receive glory, then I'm willing.
Let's remember the seriousness of our sin and the beauty of our redemption through Christ. May this perspective affect the way in which we live our lives, in constant awareness that Christ is better and that our total allegiance is to him and him alone.
