What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.
I am beginning to see James in a new light. His mind is highly analytical. His entire letter is structured around this pattern repeated over and over again:
Problem – Analysis – Solution
What is the problem here? There are fights and quarrels among believers!
James provides his analysis: Fights and quarrels are outer reflections of the desires that battle inside you!
Then James provides examples of his analysis:
You want something that is not yours. You covet what you want.
Coveting is more than just wanting. A thirsty person might want a drink of water. One who covets another’s water wants to take it from them. They are not happy until they have all the water.
James sees the one who desires something as one who will kill to get it. He sees another coveting and quarreling and fighting to get it.
The picture James paints is not a pretty one. He sees into the souls of his fellow believers and what he sees distresses him deeply.
Application: Examine your world. Is there a relationship that includes a fight or quarrel? If so, apply James’ analysis and look for desire and coveting.
Food for Thought: What do you think of James’ analysis on why people fight and quarrel?
I think coveting and strife go together well. Cain and Abel taught us this early on in Scripture. Communism is an entire system based on taking what someone has for “the common good” which has led to all sorts of atrocities. The vast majority of the US is in the top two percent of wealth of all people who have ever lived. And everyone is content with what they have and never covet, right? The problem lies deep in the heart of people, coveting and the resulting strife are ugly products that show us we have a great need. Jesus can help cure that need when we desire Him above all else.
Rich,
Well said! Many in our country talk about the “Top 1%” meaning the top earners in this country. How ironic that almost everyone in this country is in the top 2% of the entire history of mankind. Coveting is a game that blinds us to those who might covet what we have. Jesus is the only cure for that.