Here is an AI summary of James 4: “James 4 warns against worldly desires causing conflict, urging submission to God, humility (God opposes the proud), and avoiding slander, emphasizing that true friendship with God means resisting the devil and drawing near to Him, while also highlighting that boasting about future plans without acknowledging God’s will is sinful because life is fleeting, and we must live with dependence on God’s plan, saying, “If the Lord wills”. This blog will only discuss James 4:1-4.

1 Our internal lusts Vs 1-4 James says that our internal lusts are the source of all of our sins. The word for “pleasures” in 4:1 is hédoné: Pleasure, desire, lust: sensual pleasure; “what is enjoyable to the natural (physical) senses. denotes the pursuit of self-gratifying pleasure. In every New Testament setting the word is morally negative.” (biblehub.org) It is the word we get “hedonism” from, a philosophy centered on pleasure and happiness as life’s ultimate goal. John warned about those lusts in 1 John 1:¹⁵ Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. ¹⁷ The world is passing away and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God continues to live forever.” James says that those lusts “wage war” in our body parts. The Greek word is strateuó: To wage war, to serve as a soldier, to engage in spiritual warfare. “The verb appears seven times in the Greek New Testament and frames both literal military service (1 Corinthians 9:7; 2 Timothy 2:4) and the believer’s spiritual conflict.” (Biblehub.org) 2 Corinthians 10:³ For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage battle according to the flesh.” Paul talked about this internal conflict and spiritual warfare. Romans 7:⁵ For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were brought to light by the Law, were at work in the parts of our body to bear fruit for death.” He says that we are prisoners in our fleshly bodies: Romans 7:²¹ I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. ²² For I joyfully agree with the law of God in the inner person, ²³ but I see a different law in the parts of my body waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, the law which is in my body’s parts. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” We must add here that God is not against us enjoying the “pleasures” of life. He made everything good and wants us to enjoy all that He created. You have lustful desires like wanting a nice house, sexual desires, enjoying good food, etc. There is nothing wrong with that as long as that doesn’t become our main goal in life and doesn’t cause us to commit sinful deeds.

James then goes on to say that those lusts cause us to murder. Physical murder? Or is this “spiritual murder” as in 1 John 3:¹⁵ Everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.” Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, said that the goal of the commandment “Thou shalt not murder” includes not expressing anger to a brother or calling him a fool, so that could be in play in James 4:2. Either way, our lusts cause us to be angry with, hate, speak evil of others, and do things to tear them down. They cause us to have “quarrels and conflicts” with others (4:1). Our lusts cause us to be “envious” of other’s possessions or accomplishments. We can’t be happy for them. James says that we don’t have b/c we do not ask. The context is best illustrated by this: a father tells his 10 year old son not to take things from the tool shed without permission but to ask for them. The father might give it to him if he asks, but he might not give him a skill saw b/c it might hurt him. In context of James 4, they are so bent on getting what their lusts want that they never ask God, so they miss out on a lot of good things that God might want to give them. James adds, 4:³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures.” They might even ask God for things, but not get them b/c they are always praying and asking with the wrong motives, simply to get something to fulfill their lusts and pleasures. This is not a general statement on not getting what you ask for in prayer. In context, it is about those worldly believers in James 4 who pray only with selfish motives. When we don’t get what we specifically ask for in prayer, it does not mean that we are always asking with selfish, wrong motives. Sometimes God just says “no” to our requests. Maybe what we ask for is not good for us or for someone else. And that’s not to say that God might not change his plans or will on something. He changed his plan on Hezekiah dying soon and gave him 15 extra years based on Hezekiah’s prayer, which was actually a pretty selfish prayer. 2 Kings 20:³ “Please, Lord, just remember how I have walked before You wholeheartedly and in truth, and have done what is good in Your sight!” And Hezekiah wept profusely.” That is, “Lord I have always served you and don’t deserve to die this early!” Sometimes God might give us what we ask for with wrong motives just to teach us a lesson. God gave Hezekiah 15 extra years but that actually turned out to be a bad thing for him. He proudly discussed the miracle of the sun dial going backwards 10 steps with the Babylonian emissaries and then proudly showed them all the treasures of the temple. That caused God to tell him that the Babylonian would one day come and take all those treasures from the temple. At the time Isaiah told him this prediction, the Assyrians were the world power. They are the ones who sieged Jerusalem and Hezekiah’s humble trust and prayer caused God to kill 185,000 of the Assyrians in one night and send the Assryians back to Assyria. So this would have been a startling prediction, another of God’s amazing Old Testament prophets’ predictions about the fate of nations.

My philosophy on prayer: First, make sure that your motives are not selfish. Then, pray like Jesus prayed. Matthew 26:39 “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” He was actually praying for something selfish, but His motives were pure. He had seen those crucified hanging for 2 or 3 days at times, suffering unbelievable pain. He know that was his fate. He was asking selfishly to be spared of that. There is nothing wrong with us asking God to spare us or our loved ones of pain, disease, suffering, etc. But then he adds,  “nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”  If God did not spare him of his fate on the cross, then Jesus was ready to accept that. People wonder about the verse, 1 John 5:14: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us”. Or John 15:7: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you”. That sounds like you will get anything you ask for unconditionally, but as we know, that is not the case. But think of it this way. If I ask, “God heal me of my cancer, but if not, that’s fine. Just give me the strength to get through it.” God will give you what you asked for b/c you asked like that. He can say, “I will grant your requests. I am not going to heal you of your cancer, but I will help you get through it. I will give you what you asked for!”Does that make sense? Also, what is “praying according to God’s will?” Does that mean that you have to pray for what God has already predetermined will happen? Of course not. The Hezekiah story proves that God can change his intended plans, so don’t be afraid to pray for God to change any plans He might have. That’s what Jesus did. He knew God’s predetermined plan was for him to die on the cross, but he didn’t mind asking God to change His plan, if possible.

Finally, James adds, James 4:⁴ You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” We are guilty of spiritual adultery when we let our inner lusts take over and cause us to sin. There will always be temptations for our lusts to look at and think about. A husband will see beautiful women and be tempted. But he must control his lusts. Jesus said that to lust after a woman is to commit spiritual adultery. The prophet Hosea spoke of the spiritual adultery of Israel, going off after other gods. God told Hosea, “Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD” (Hosea 1:2). In Ezekiel 16 God said that Jerusalem was like an unfaithful wife after He loved had loved her and made her his bride. She was like a cheating woman who lusted after sex.” We can be guilty of spiritual adultery when we let our inner lusts cause us to focus on what our lusts desire rather than focussing on pleasing God and denying worldly lusts. Paul said, Titus 2:¹² instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and in a godly manner in the present age.” So who are we committing spiritual adultery with? The world and its lusts (1 John 1:15-17). Our lovers are the sinful worldly lusts all around us. James calls this friendship with the world that leads to spiritual adultery. Here is analogy. A husband befriends some attractive woman at work. At first, it is just a “friendship” but he is being drawn to her sexually and ends up committing adultery with her. Or a believer befriends guys who are constantly dwelling on their lusts with no spirituality at all. Eventually that friendship might draw the believer away from God and cause him to commit spiritual adultery on God. It is good to make friends with sinners, as Jesus did, but be careful when your friendship draws you away from your love of God.

I know this was long, but James 1:1-4 covers so many thoughts. Let me close with this about our inner lusts and inner conflict. Buddhism. Equanimity (Upekkha) is one of the Four Sublime States of Buddhism: A balanced, peaceful state of mind undisturbed by life’s ups and downs, achieved by detaching from the cycle of craving. It is a core factor for developing wisdom, compassion, and achieving enlightenment, involving an even-minded, balanced state that isn’t swayed by likes, dislikes, or worldly ups and downs.” (AI) I’m sure I oversimplify Buddhism, but I summarize it like this. You suffer and are unhappy b/c you don’t have something (food, things, etc). If you will just quit craving (lusting) for things and be totally happy without them, then you won’t suffer when you don’t have them. You won’t be preoccupied with getting them. You will find total inner peace and happiness without getting any of those things. You won’t be preoccupied with the worry, stress, depression, and grief when you don’t have those things. Deliberately cultivating happiness that does not depend on external circumstances is one of the core practices in Buddhism! Scientists say they have evidence to show that Buddhists really are happier and calmer than other people (even many Christians). Now I am not encouraging you to become a Buddhist! Buddhism is a philosophy, a way of life taught by the Buddha. That philosophy can make you a more contented, happy person regardless of your circumstances, but it can’t save you from your sins. Only Jesus can do that. But is is sad that many of us Christians are so preoccupied with the worries, riches, and pleasures of this life (Luke 8:14) that we do not find contentment, inner peace, and joy. We don’t bear much fruit for Jesus either!

This section speaks so much to me. How much of my desires are for fulfilling my inner lusts? My wife reminded me of this parable. “The phrase “two dogs in you, which are you feeding?” refers to a parable (often attributed to a Cherokee elder, though origins are debated) about the internal struggle between good and bad impulses, where the “dog” (or wolf) you give attention, energy, and focus to is the one that grows stronger and ultimately wins, influencing your character and actions.” (AI) The “Bad” Dog/Wolf: Represents negativity, anger, jealousy, greed, arrogance, and ego.The “Good” Dog/Wolf: Represents joy, peace, love, hope, kindness, empathy, and compassion.”

One last thought! James 1:1-4 kinda leave us a little depressed b/c, at least in my case, it seems like my ungodly lusts are winning the internal spiritual battle most of the time. Paul ended up his negative view of his inner struggle in Romans 7 with 7:²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from ^[y]the body of this death?” Is there no hope for us since it seems the ungodly lusts usually win out? James deals with that in the next section (or blog) in James 4:5-10. Until next time!