The Progression of 'Unchecked' Desires
"What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 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. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 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." - James 4:1-4 This passage, to me, seems to be one of the most black and white passages in all of Scripture. James is asking this incredibly strong rhetorical question: Why do you fight? What causes competition among you, Christians? Why does all of mankind seek to overtake one another? Why is there anger and hatred in the very relationships that should be marked by peace and fellowship?...