![]() We must become humble in order to enjoy God’s grace. James quotes Proverbs 3:34 “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” God’s grace is available to those of us who are willing to admit our spiritual poverty, acknowledge our desperate need of God’s help, and submit to his will for our lives. God’s grace gives us the ability to meet this requirement. God expects the absolute totality of our worship, respect, and love. God’s grace makes it possible for us to give God the allegiance he requires. “But God gives us more grace” (James 4:6). Pursuing their own destructive pleasures (James 4:1-3).Exhibiting bitter envy and selfish ambition (James 3:13-18).Speaking negatively of others (James 3:1-12).Throughout this letter, James lists evidence of ways the young believers were imitating the world: God will not tolerate any rivals to our allegiance. They were committing spiritual adultery by seeking friendship with the world. In James 4:4, James calls the recipients of this letter adulterers. The purpose of prayer is not to indulge our own desires, it is to seek God’s glory and reign in our world. James reminds them that the purpose of prayer is to align ourselves with God’s will and purpose. The disorder and evil James mentioned in James 3:16 was caused by their selfish desires and covetousness. James seems to be more concerned about how these believers are quarreling with one another than he is over what they are quarreling about. In James 4:1-12, James turns his attention to believers who are causing quarrels and fights among the church community. He sent his Son to die in our place to pay for our sin. God created us to be in relationship with him. When the Bible talks about the jealous love of God, it means that God is jealous when we give worship or respect to something else that rightly belongs to God. James is concerned that these believers remember that God requires our full allegiance, worship, and respect. The proper response is our total allegiance to him. Misplacing our love for God onto other things is idolatry. In this Scripture passage, James calls his readers “adulterers.” The point he is making is that these young Christians are misplacing love and respect that rightly belong to God. But consider how angry we might become over misplaced love and affection. In the Seinfeld example, George gets angry about misplaced appreciation, which is kind of silly. There’s something in all of us that bristles a bit when someone else gets credit for our accomplishment. George shouted, “What I would like to know is, how does a person who has nothing to do with the Big Salad claim responsibility for that salad and accept the thank you under false pretenses?” George was mad that Julie got credit for something he had done. ![]() George was angry with his girlfriend for accepting thanks from Elaine. George got mad that Julie got credit for his action. George bought the salad for Elaine, but his girlfriend Julie handed it to Elaine, and Elaine thanked Julie for the salad. In 1994, an episode of the show Seinfeld aired called, “The Big Salad.” The character Elaine asked George to pick up a big salad for her from a restaurant and bring it to Jerry’s apartment. ![]()
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