James 4 – 5
Verse 4:1 poses an interesting question to ponder:
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
Think about any quarrel you have been in and how it was fueled. One or both had their passions amp up and escalate to an argument.Now there are times where one could justify this conflict, but in most cases we allow our emotions to rule valuable relationships. This is most common in marriages where we allow our passions to rule an argument. I know this has been the way in our marriage, where things often escalate beyond control over stupid things.
We see this in the churches where they split over minor “doctrinal” issues. If that wasn’t the case then why are there so many denominations of the Christian church today? The root of the church came from Jesus and the 12 disciples, then 431 and 451 had the first two major splits and then it goes on from there. The majority all come from quarrels within the church on the interpretation on Jesus’ words. Check out the Wikipedia page titles “List of Christian denominations” and you will be amazed at the large number of variations that have happened.
Is this really what Jesus intended or is this just the makings of Satan? Is the message the Dutch Reformed Church in Botswana that radically different from the Ministries of His Glory? I want to believe that these were not splits to water down the Gospel, but rather to more to reach a larger audience. Where I could sit and listen to someone pick apart the details of a specific verse others would be lost and leave a message like that. My friend Pat is the perfect example, I went to the church he was saved in and was shocked at how anyone could enjoy being yelled at for an hour, but it worked for pat. Different strokes for different folks.
Verse 4:14 reflects on our lives:
yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
Shakespeare’s Macbeth used this concept in Act 5 where he said: “Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow”. We are all just a flash in time when you think about it. As we age life seems long and we hope to make an impact in this world, but really when you look at this over history our contribution to mankind is nothing. When you realize even the great leaders like Solomon legacy is long forgotten and still being discovered by archeologists.
Solomon said the same things in Ecclesiastes and least we forget that only in very rare situations will our words be remembered. Today with digital media, I wonder if anything will be found in 100 years. Sure if it can survive, it may all be “out there” still, but will need to be dug up just like the temple of Solomon. We need to remember that our lives here are to ensure that as many people will experience the life after death with Jesus.
Verses 5:4 & 5 are haunting to me today:
4 Behold, the wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
I could go on and on with calculations of “inflation adjusted” dollars verses pay and how we are getting the short end of the stick. I could fall into the wealth envy of the Occupy movement and turn this around pointing to the 1% and how “they” have done this for decades. I read this last chapter and wonder if there are “end time” prophecies here or if they are just “normal” warnings for day to day life. Honestly if you look at how the fed is printing money and funneling it into the banks who are dispersing amount their board, one could see that this is signaling the end. What was often a “nationalized” problem has become global reaching almost everyone who has a stake in the “world’s economy”.
You have to ask yourself is James warning us about what is happening, because it always has, just not to this scale. Or is he prophesizing the end?