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Joseph and Potiphar’s wife; Guido RENI; c.1631; oil on canvas; Pushkin Museum, Moscow

James 4 (English Standard Version)
Warning Against Worldliness

1What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2You 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. 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4You 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. 5Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"? 6But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." 7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Reflection:

One of the reasons we don’t get what we ask from God is because we ask with the wrong motive – selfish motive.
What does ‘friendship with the world’ mean?
From verses 1-3: Being materialistic, jealous, envious, violent, selfish, and living for own pleasure.
“Friendship with the world is enmity with God” – v3
Worldly-mindedness makes us enemies of God: if by ‘worldly’ we mean an anti God world view and Godless attitude. “Enemy can be reconciled, not enmity.” God can forgive sinners, but he cannot condone sins.
“Natural corruption shows itself by envying.” - M.Henry
Verses 4-7 gives us the Seven steps to spiritual recovery:
1. Submit to God – set our mind to do His will
2. Resist the devil – say ‘no!’ and he will flee!
3. Draw near to God – and He will draw near! Pray and read His words.
4. Cleanse our hands – “Go and sin no more.”
5. Purify our hearts – Look inside, examine, confess our sins and be assured of His forgiveness.
6. Repent and mourn for our sins – joy comes in the morning, for his mercy is like new every morning! We either mourn now or mourn in eternity!
7. Humble ourselves before the Lord –
The process of the steps to spiritual recovery can be painful but let the truth of verse 10 encourage us – “and He will exalt us!” He will empower us with His Spirit to live a new life as we draw near to Him in humility.