Fighting
Most weeks I will be posting here on the blog but I think that is important to get a chorus of voices talking about what they see God doing. This is why I invited my friend Vanessa Petersen to post this week and this is what she had to say….
After Pastor Randy Coleman’s message this past Sunday I began thinking about what it looks like to fight with the sin (or hell as he called it) influencing people. It made me think of a passage in James that I’ve been studying recently.
- James 3:13-16 “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”
- And James 4:1-5 “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?”
Some folks are made for fighting. They are prepared, even seeking out an opponent. You see them and they are ready for anything from any direction and then there are some folks are blindsided every time. A fight happens and they are in the middle of it before they know what happened. People fight with people, girls fight, guys fight, we fight each other, and then we go schizophrenic and fight ourselves. What’s the deal?
Some of the spiritual battles we face everyday are within us, and some are external. We should never think that a fight is something that affects only the physical realm. Sin is the basis for all conflict. No sin, no fighting. All pain, struggle, and loss can be directly associated with “the Fall”. Why go through it? Why can’t we get away from it?
- James 13:16 “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”
There is envy and selfish ambition around when it’s just you. Even if you are in a box and can’t see out the thought that somewhere else someone else has a bigger, better box will creep in. We’re all looking for a fight because we are all wired for dissatisfaction. When the snake tempted Eve in the garden he tempted her with the thought that she didn’t have something she deserved. Discontent entered God’s perfect world followed quickly by distrust. We’re also wired to only find true contentment in God. Battle anyone? It’s easier to fight the closest person than a “nagging feeling,” so we have at it. Someone took your stapler, you yell at him. Someone parked in the garage when it was your turn; you make sure they feel guilty about it. Is it really that hard to remember what belongs to you and where to park? Probably not, but what does it really matter? It matters because we feel inconvenienced and the need to equal the “score” can always be justified if we think we’re entitled.
- James 4:5 adds “Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?”
Just in case you may not know, God doesn’t lose. When He fights, He wins. When He puts someone else in a fight, He wins. Always. God loves us and He fights for us. His envy is right and when we choose to sin (aka, friendship with the world) we feel the fight between a loving God bringing us back to what is right and the sin nature innate within us. Each sin heightens the battle.
So where do we find peace? When does the fighting end? Where can we rest?
· James 4:7-10 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
Keeping up the pride is hard work. Humility is where you can rest. That is counterintuitive, but that intuition is sin based. Grieve, mourn and wail for your own foolishness. Release what you have accumulated because you thought it would make you happy. Stop thinking that what you’ve done apart from God has a defense or is worthy of praise. God has something better to give you, but you can’t receive it if your hands are full.
– Vanessa Peterson
westsidecollegeministry.wordpress.com 