James 4:
From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
(Jas 4:1-17)
James here is dealing with matters of the heart. We ask and yet we believe not, we envy and strive together because we are lusting after things God has not blessed us with. James tells us all off for this. For Jesus said where our treasures are there also is our heart, so store not up treasures on earth. This chapter is an honest appeal that every man should examine himself and the motive for which he is asking for this or that. Do you really want that nice sports car to do the work of God, or do just want it to show off and look good? Is it really to glorify God and help the poor that you want a nice fat bank balance? James is reproving us on the one hand because we do not ask, and then he goes on to reprove us for asking with the wrong motives, surely that is a contradiction; wel not really you see what he is saying is that God doesn?t look on the outward appearance of what we say, but on our hearts motives of why we desire to have X or Y. You see God knows when we truly desire to be able to do His work, and He also knows the end from the beginning so He knows when giving us too much would cause our hearts to become exalted and proud, and would take our eyes of the bestower of our blessings.
James begs the readers to afflict their hearts and get right with God, and then turns once more to the issue of the Law. How do these two dovetail together? Well unless our eyes are on the Law giver, and loving the law that he has given is part of loving the one who gave the law, our focus will consistently be on ourselves and those around us. We either look up or we look around, so once more we are confronted by the issue of the law. Are we guilty of judging the law? Of judging what parts we should and should not keep? Are we guilty of speaking evil about one another? Are we guilty of forgetting that it is God who gave us life and who also gave us the law? I know for myself I am guilty of all these things sometimes, yet I can come to the throne of grace boldly and confess my sin in this and be forgiven. For I have sinned in knowing to do good and not doing it, as I ought.
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