20240204

what we want

James 4:1-3 (JDV)

James 4:1 Where do the conflicts and where do the fights among you originate? Don’t they come from your pleasures that wage war within you?
James 4:2 You are desiring and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask.
James 4:3 You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

what we want

One way that philosophy has sought to deal with the problem James is addressing is to rid ourselves of desires — to become a stoic who wants nothing. But James does not prescribe that policy. He tells his readers to bring their desires under control by bringing their requests to God for the things we really need. Wrong motives must be recognized and repented of. The alternatives are conflict, warfare, murder, and coveting.

What we want is a serious matter with God.