Our Selfish God, James 4

     I know the book of James is kind of mean, but I think that’s why I like it so much. It reminds me that I’m no one special, which is good for me. I sometimes think of myself like St. Louis fans think of the Cardinals. Like I’m the best thing to come to the Midwest since peanut butter and people actually care to listen to my fandom on an hourly basis. Pride: can be good for sports teams (even if they are the Cardinals), but no good for my humility in Christ.
     James 4 opens up by saying, essentially, we’re doing it wrong. James addresses our desires and passions that don’t line up with God’s Will for us, yet we still chase them and find trouble in doing so.
    “You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way. You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way.” James 4:2-4, The Message). Verse 5 jumps in and reminds us of the scripture that says “He yearns jealously over the spirit that He has made dwell in us.” God is jealous for me.
     I remember when I first became a Christian, thinking God was the most selfish…“thing” for asking us to worship and please Him with our lives. This God is asking me to devout my life to whatever He wants me to do. It was mentioned to me, referenced by an author I cannot remember now, that God, being the most important Being, has every right to be selfish. When you’re the creator of the universe and all other universes, being the center of all everything, you have to be selfish. God desires us to desire Him, because he is, period. If God is who we claim He is, He is the most significant belief and being accepted by Him should be the most yearning part of our lives.
     Now, think of it that way. The center of all universes is jealous for your undivided attention. He doesn’t want to share you with sin or your selfish ambitions; He desires to make you new in His image. As a Christian, we are no longer sinners saved by Jesus; we are the righteousness of God. We can’t identify with the sin that used to be a part of us, that part died when we accepted the new clothing Christ’s blood offers us.
     I read James a lot when I first started following Christ; it is one of the most clear instruction manuals I found on how to live. One of the verses that stuck out to me while reading James this time around was the last one, verse 17. “So whoever knows the right thing and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” I think, sometimes, we think we have to have all of our stuff together when we draw near to God. I think, sometimes, we think we have time to wait until later to submit to God, because right now is just too fun and “I’ll have to quit living the way I do” if we follow God right now. God wants us just the way we are. Christ isn’t only accepting to those who have it all together, no one has it all together, but through a relationship with Him, we’ll change to see the light. With spiritual growth comes spiritual maturity and the more time we spend with God the more we should be changing. With that being said, this verse also reminds us that have been Christians for a while we don’t have an excuse to sin. We know better and with that we should resist the devil and wash our hands and purify our hearts by drawing near to God (James 4:7&8). Spend some time with God and wrestle where your submission is yielded.