“Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” James 4:1-3 (NKJV)
Could professing Christians commit murder? Could professing Christians commit the act of covetousness? Well, of course the answer to those questions is, Yes! Not just a professing Christian, but one who has lived faithfully for years can stumble and fall.
Remember Jesus spoke “whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.” This was following his quoting the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill”. In the study of James we have seen that there is murder that can be done with the tongue. There is no blood shed. Cruel, harsh, angry, bitter, viperous, poisonous words that kill the heart and soul of the one for whom the words were intended.
Yes! Christians can commit the act of murder. Whether it is with the tongue or the bullet from a gun makes no difference concerning our guilt. Why would a Christian commit such an act? Christians can stop walking with God, stop being filled with the Spirit of God, and due to that become separated from the will of God. We can, and it happens gradually, so as to be hardly noticed, get a little further each day we neglect the Word of God, each day we neglect to pray, each day we neglect to spend time with God, we slip a little more, a little further away from God’s guidance, protection, and care; then, the slipgap of the trap of the devil falls; and we are caught – trapped. The only way out is back where we left Him.
That day you neglected to read the Word and pray, then the next day was easier, the next day was easier, then you fell. You began to talk about your brothers and sisters in Christ, killing them with the hatred that leapt from your tongue. One day they just lose all sense of love, and go into a rage and they can end a life just as any other. What has happened. They have fallen, and hard.
This is not the heart of the normal Christian. This is not the path the normal Spirit filled Christian trods. The normal Christian fights the temptation to covet, fights the temptation to slander, commit malice, and to kill. We are not immune to the temptations, but we do not desire to practice them. Nor, do we seek to have power over the lives of others.
When we fall away from God’s direction and will for our lives, we can become just as vile, and evil, as the worst offender of God could ever be; maybe even more so. Anger, whether it is with God or with others, is a very dangerous foe when it is out of control. Anger can and does often lead to murder. Covetousness, can and does often lead to anger and murder.
What do we do? We love God, find our pleasure in Him, His Word, and in prayer, worship and praise to Him every day or our lives, through living for Him.
Walk With God Today.
-Tim A. Blankenship
Filed under: BIBLE STUDIES, Christianity, Devotion, Discipleship, James, Theo/Doc | Tagged: Anger, Bible Study, Christianity, Devotion, Discipleship, Falling, James, Jesus Christ, Murder, Praise, Prayer, Religion, The Tongue, Worship
