James 4:1-5 -- On Envy

"From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?"
James 4:1-5


I like the idea here that we are at odds with each other because we are full of envy. That seems like a huge thing to overcome, like so many other sins I suppose, but there are some pointers later in this chapter, for instance, humbling ourselves before God, and not speaking evil about one another.

The friendship of the world thing is a little confusing. One interpretation could be that all we need is God, which is fairly accurate, but I don't think it means we can't have other friends. It seems more of a "avoid the values of the world" type thing, which we should be careful of in our society and our choice of friendships, but I feel like the main idea is to put the Lord first, and as long as we are being careful of that, then it's good to have other friends, and to avoid wars and fightings with other people in general. :)

Today, let's work on avoiding envy, and being happy with the blessings that the Lord has poured out upon us. If we need something, let's go to the Lord with our request, and remember that we don't all need the same things. What we have has little to do with happiness, and everything to do with God. :)