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“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. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:1-4 NASB1995)
Some children are more independent and strong-willed than other children, and if you try to assist them, or if you try to instruct them in the way that they should go, they might respond with, “My Do It.” Now, we should not do everything for them, and they do need to learn to be independent and to do things for themselves, to a point. But they must also learn to respect and to obey their elders, unless the adults are insisting that they do something sinful. After that, when no longer children, they are supposed to grow up.
Sadly, there are many adults still living like children, still taking an independent and “My Do It” approach to their life choices, which can be good, and which can be bad, depending upon the choices being made and who all is impacted by those choices. Many of them, therefore, never grow up, but they continue to behave childishly in self-indulgence and in being self-absorbed. Many of them end up doing what they want to do regardless of right and wrong, and regardless of who gets hurt in the process.
Sadder still is that many of these adults profess faith in Jesus Christ, and yet they still go their own way, making their own choices (good and bad), doing whatever brings them pleasure, regardless of who they hurt in the process, and regardless of what God’s word teaches us about how we should live, and about moral purity, and about putting off what is of the flesh and that is sinful and putting on obedience to our Lord. They may claim they want to be free from the control of sin, but their hearts are in the wrong place.
And one of the big problems at work here is that they are not looking to God for their solutions, although they may seem to, at times, but then they go right on living just like before. But they are looking to the world and to other humans to solve their problems rather than going to God and to his word and just doing what his word teaches that we must do. But this can only be done in his power, and only as we yield control of our lives over to God and we now submit to his will, and we die to sin, and we obey his commands.
“Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: ‘He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us’? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, ‘God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.” (James 4:5-10 NASB1995)
Faith in Jesus Christ is not verbal only. Faith, which comes from God, and which is gifted to us by God, is persuaded of God as to his righteousness and holiness, and of our sinfulness, and of our need to die with him to sin and to walk in obedience to his commands, in holy living, in the power of God. For in Jesus’ death on that cross, he put our sins to death with him, so that by faith in him we will now die to sin and walk in obedience to his commands, in surrender to his will for our lives. And if we do not die to sin, and if we do not obey his commands, in practice, we do not have eternal life in him.
So, the counsel here is that we are to take God and his word seriously. We are to believe, not only the promises of God which make us feel good, but also the promises of God which let us know that if sin is still our practice, and if obedience to God is not what we practice, that heaven is not our eternal destiny. For all of God’s promises have warnings and conditions. And if we do not meet those conditions, because of how we live, we are not recipients of those promises. So we must all submit to God, put sin to death in our lives, and purify our hearts, for from our hearts come evil deeds.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Matthew 15:17-20; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:23-31; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]
As the Deer
By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1
As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
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Pleasures that Wage War in Your Members
An Original Work / September 16, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
