Thoughts for the Day

Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

No, I don't believe in the devil as a horned being with a pitch-fork, but I do believe in evil and those who succumb to evil. We looked at the Epistles of James in July this year, but not at this particular passage of Chapters 3 and 4. The trouble for many of us when looking at this subject, there is a big difference in our minds between 'evil' and 'sin'. An evil deed is usually considered to be something major, like the person who commits murder, and a sin is something small like telling a lie. But James points out that small sins can lead to larger sins. Envy and selfishness can lead to disorder and wickedness, he says.

I have been struck recently with how many adverts on our television are concerned with expensive items considered essential for living, often these cost thousands of pounds. These adverts tune into our desire for what others possess - children want "brand-named" shoes because they think it will make them more popular; adults seek better jobs and incomes to be able to afford the lifestyle that they think will make them happier. Oscar Wilde once said "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."

James sees that at its heart sin is about envy. We can call it covetousness, selfish ambition, or cravings, but it is basically a desire for what others have, and this desire can feed on itself growing ever larger so that even when we turn to God we ask for the wrong things. In order to resist what is sinful we are to draw near to God, resisting earthly desires, for God longs for us to turn to Him. When we do this, the devil will flee from us, and we shall see things more clearly.

Father-God,
may we learn to value what is important to You,
not being envious of others,
of their status or possessions.
May we be content with what we have
and seek to make the world around us a better place.
Help us to shun temptations,
and all that is not good for us,
and teach us to draw near to You,
Amen.