The Source

James 4 –

What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask…

I hate to quarrel, and I hate conflict.  Yet I find that I sometimes create quarrels and conflict all on my own, all because of my own insecurities and desires.

There’s a war being waged (or fought) among us.  Our flesh (our minds and bodies) crave things that we see, ways we want to feel, and stuff we think will satisfy.  And so we go after them….by committing murder, fighting, and quarreling.

What? Why does this passage mention committing murder?

Murder, by definition, is premeditated.  That means it starts in the mind and goes from there.  And when we start quarrels and conflicts because of what we’ve been thinking, things that are all flesh-related, we are in a sense murdering those with whom we strive.

Quarrels kill the spirit.  Conflicts lay out relationships on the floor.  And lust of any kind renders dead the love once had.

Because our minds take over and our eyes see what we cannot have, we pick fights to go after these things.  We start quarreling with our husbands because of what they’re not doing to satisfy us.  We are in conflict with our friends because they are more successful than we are.  And so the murder begins….

The end of this passage is intriguing…where it states we do not have because we do not ask…

We’ll look at that tomorrow.