Sunday, July 12, 1998 This Week's Lesson:
In this week's lesson, which came from Matthew 7:3-5, James 4:1-3, and James 4:7-12, we learned about the importance of accepting responsibility for our part in conflict situations. People often try to blame others when things go wrong or when conflict situations arise within relationships. In speaking about the brother with a speck in his eye and the beam in our own, as is recorded in Matthew 7:3-5, Jesus taught His listeners that we should evaluate ourselves and first try to clean up our own act before trying to criticize and fix those around us. According to the Quarterly, one way to look at ourselves critically is to identify our major tasks and responsibilities and see how we are doing. Are we meeting the important pressing needs of our own life? If not, then we probably need to work on ourselves before trying to work on others.
In James 4:1-3, James identified the source of conflicts in our life as frustrated, unsatisfied desires. He taught that those frustrated feelings often lead to conflict. In Chapter One of this epistle, he had earlier indicated that those same desires and wanting for pleasure lead to temptations and sin. According to the Quarterly and implied by James, a person places him or herself at great risk when they are willing to intentionally sin to satisfy their unmet wants. In addition, that person takes the wrong path to God when he or she then tries to pray based on those kinds of wrongly motivated thoughts and emotions. Such prayers are inappropriate and almost never carry any weight with the Lord. When we take our petitions to Him, we should try to do so with pure motives. Based on James 1:5, rather than asking the Lord for easy solutions to our problems, we should simply ask Him in faith for the wisdom to deal with them in a godly fashion.
James said, in James 4:7-12, that we can avoid conflicts with others by fleeing the devil and drawing closer to the Lord. James 4:7 says, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." As a normal course of living, we would do very well if we continually tried to draw closer and closer to Christ. As we get closer to Him, we allow ourselves to be changed by Him. Then, our problems and conflicts will automatically be reduced. James taught the value of a pure heart and a clean life. We should not be wavering in our faith but have a single loyalty to our Lord. We should refrain from speaking harshly against our brethren but should instead lift them up with praise and thanksgiving. As Christians, we should do our best to serve our brothers and sisters in the Lord, as the Holy Spirit would have us. We should also do our best to share our hope in Christ with those around us. Conflicts arise for all of us, but those conflicts can find their speediest and best solution when we turn them over to the Lord.
Tom of Spotswood"He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." (I John 5:12)
"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CjasYsgodTavopOunLviIghajDasgZwmalhTigQazNwpyidHgoEavopZhosgUmoRanOjivKshodFamiBgmejtVupmi
QwpyidKwjipFasgBvoYXWupjeawPjasLafipGoEwmeAZagenUpyihPunMhoJashFEwmaojvXghazSunPhoMashIH
GehimedZigWwagexowawMhoJatelEhosg
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Send email to: tlee6040@aol.com