James 4 NIVI watched the news, the unpeaceful protests in Baltimore, late into the night last night. Sadly, that is just a tiny fraction of the unrest in the world these days. It never ceases to amaze me that so many people will use the excuse that they seek justice to commit more injustice. Breaking the law and throwing rocks and bottles at cops is not going to promote anyone's agenda for the good. How can looting and setting other people's property on fire be justice in anyone's mind? Yet, there are quite a few who think that it is.
There is so much dissension in this world. St. James asks: "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." (vs 1-3)
We are taught by scripture that we are to love our neighbors and that doesn't mean just the people in the church. We are to love even our enemies. We are to care for them. To unjustly attack our neighbors or even our enemies is sin. To cause harm to them whether it be intentional or unintentional is sin. What we do or what we ask God for should not be for our benefit alone; because it might be pleasing to us; but, for the good of all people.
"If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them." (vs 17) "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." (vs 7,8)
May God help us to learn to better trust that His will is for the good of all of His children..
God's Peace - Pr. J
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