1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
"You desire and do not have, so you murder." Murder exists even in the church, at least in the sense of conflict, anger, bitterness, gossip, slander, and any manner of hurting others. Our Lord Jesus said—"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire" (Matt. 5:21–22). Likewise, God speaking through the apostle John says—"Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him" (1 John 3:15).
"You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel" (v. 2a). In order to get and have for self, we are ready to go to war against one another. Conflict in our relationships is a proof that we are worldly. At bottom, worldliness is putting self at the center over against everybody else. This reminds us that our hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. How critically we need the grace of our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.
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