Nipate
Forum => Controversial => Topic started by: GeeMail on November 21, 2014, 10:32:44 AM
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A Native American piece of folklore tells the story of a man who says to his
grandson: “There are two wolves fighting inside the heart of every man.” His
grandson asks, “Which one wins?” The grandfather answers, “The one you
feed.”
James also speaks of the war going on in the heart of every man, and
asks, Where do such “wars and fights come from?” (4:1, NKJV).
“Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?” He
goes on to explain what feeds this war: “You lust and do not have. You
murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. . . . Adulterers and
adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with
God?” (vss. 2, 4, NKJV).
As we’ve seen, James isn’t afraid to use strong language to make his point. Here he accuses God’s people of spiritual infidelity. They have broken their “marriage vow” to God. How? By friendship with the world. Note how James speaks of being a friend to the world, rather than lover. When we think of adultery, we think of someone breaking
the marriage vow through illicit sex. But here, James’s warning against the
friendship of the world is akin to Jesus’ warning about adultery. One need
not have relations with a man or a woman to commit adultery but simply to
look on him or her with lust.
Befriending the world—lusting after its pleasures and embracing its
values—is enough to break our vow to God. God is an amorous husband;
as James tells us, “‘the Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealousy’” (vs. 5, NKJV).
God’s love is an all-or-nothing love: we cannot serve Him or be His
with a divided heart. The sin of ancient, adulterous Israel was that “their
heart [was] divided” (Hos. 10:2).
The cure to healing a divided heart is the same now as then: God’s grace, through which He “resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6, NKJV).
And that grace bestows the rebellious soul with meekness.
James outlines how this grace gives us the victory over the divided
heart, knitting it as one with the Father’s: We are told first to (1) “submit
to God.” And then (2) “resist the devil,” and the result is that he will flee
(vs. 7). Notice the order of things, which is very important. We are not told to resist until we surrender. Why? We lack the strength to defeat the devil on our own. What does it mean to submit? James clarifies this process point by point: (1) “Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and (2) purify your hearts, you double-minded” (vs. 8, NKJV).
(3) “Lament” and (4) “mourn” and (5) “weep!” (vs. 9, NKJV).
(6) “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up” (vs. 10, NKJV).
Clean hands refer to clean actions, a clean heart to pure emotions and thoughts. God
gives His grace only to the humble, transforming a divided heart into an undivided one.
Read more at: http://www.absg.adventist.org/2014/4Q/TE/PDFs/ETQ414_08.pdf