James 3:13-15

Passage

Who is wise and understanding in you?  Let him make known his works out of good conduct in obedient submission of wisdom.  And if you all have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and do not speak lies according to the truth.  This is not the wisdom that comes down from above but it is human, natural, and demonic.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Once more we see in James the use of a word etymologically tied to “praus.”  The word is the same as we saw in James 1:21 and you can see a discussion on this word there.  James is telling us that those who are wise do what they do in obedient submission to wisdom.  In a roundabout way, James is saying that wisdom comes from saying that it is not about me.  I should desire to have good conduct for the sake of obedience rather than praise or glory.  I should be obedient because of the one who asks it of me rather than for my praise.

Do you have good conduct because of obedient submission?  What other reasons do you do the right thing?  If you do something right for the wrong reasons, is it still right?

Second Thought:

James now turns to talk about how human beings harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition within our hearts.  I’ll get to our nature in the next point.  But for now, understand that James tells us that we should not boast or speak lies.  We will have bitterness in our hearts.  We will have selfish ambition.  We cannot prevent it from being there, but we can control how we respond to it.  We can harbor it, brag on it, and lie about how great we are.  Or we can obediently submit to God and live out the truth that it really isn’t about me.

We do we harbor jealousy within our hearts?  Why are we selfishly ambitious in asserting our own plans?  Do you ever find yourself desiring to seek your desires more than God’s will?

Third Thought:

Now let’s look at why James tells us that we have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in our heart.  He gives us three words.  It is human.  In other words, it is a part of our being.  It is natural.  In other words, it is a part of this world.  It is demonic.  This one hopefully gave you pause.  What James is saying here is that it is foreign to God.  Here we have a gut-check moment.  Literally, what James is saying is that when we pursue our own selfish ambition – when we make life about me and not about God – we are being demonic and alien to God.  There is no lasting joy, peace, or satisfaction when we harbor our bitter jealousy or our selfish ambition.  There is only lasting joy, peace, and satisfaction when we assert God’s ambition and obediently submit to Him.

Why do you think we again talk about submission?  What is it about humanity that makes this such an important concept?  Have you ever thought of jealousy as being in opposition to submission?  Have you ever considered how selfish ambition can be in opposition to ambition?

Passage for Tomorrow: James 3:16-18