May 12
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ADULTERY TOWARD GOD
What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is the source not your pleasures that wage war in your body’s parts? 2 You lust and do not have, so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures. 4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God – James 4:1-4
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In this letter, we hear James with very strong language again. He raises the question about the source of quarrels and conflicts among the believers. In verse 1, he identifies the origin of the war happening inwardly and outwardly of a person’s heart. He claims that pleasures, lust or cravings are the sources of fights among our brothers and sisters. In verse 2, he brings a clear premise as to why lust is very dangerous. It can lead us to be envious and dissatisfied with ourselves and our status, so we scheme to commit murder. The murder he is talking about here isn’t just a physical assassination, it could also be killing someone else’s reputation or slandering someone so one can be gratified to achieve something that they have been pining for.
James drives another point in lacking something. He says that we don’t have something because we fail to ask God for it or when we ask, we do not have the right motives. A lot of people have commercialized God by thinking he is a Santa Claus who can grant us any wish we want provided are good and nice. By nature, humans are selfish, so if we are not walking in the Spirit, our requests would likely be carnal and self-serving.
In verse 4, he reprimands us about committing adultery toward God. Adulteresses! That is a female unfaithful person. Why not adulterer? Remember that believers are the bride of Christ? If you turn your back on your Master and Husband and serve the world’s system, aren’t you an adulteress? When we do not submit to Jesus’ authority as our head, we are considered unfaithful. Each time we gratify our flesh, we are turning our backs to God and being unfaithful to His steadfast love. Each time we entertain lies instead of bringing truth in our lives, we are committing adultery against the Master that we have promised to commit and follow.
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REFLECTION
• Why are there some Christians who do not see friendship with the world as an act of unfaithfulness to God or adultery?