Wednesday, January
3, 2018
What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war
within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme
and kill to get it. You are jealous of
what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it
away from them. Yet you don’t have what
you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when
you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what
will give you pleasure. You adulterers!
Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you
make yourself an enemy of God. Do you think the
Scriptures have no meaning? They say
that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be
faithful to him. And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but
gives grace to the humble.” James 4:1-6(NLT)
The Apostle James is affectionately known as camel knees. I’m
not sure where that’s written in church historical documents, but it’s certainly
a colorful and instructive picture. It seems
this half-brother of our Lord spent so much time in prayer that he had
callouses on his kneeling parts that made him look like he had the front legs
of a camel. Now, I don’t know camels
very well, other than the first-hand knowledge that they can “spit” up to 10
yards or more…with some measure of accuracy!
I’m also not sure they spend any time praying, so the comparison of a
camel to a long-praying person (for me) ends with the knee-callouses, the measure
of time spent in contact with the floor!
James makes the singular and monumental point that most of the strife in
the world can be traced back to a culture that has either forgotten, or never
learned to pray.
I’m certain that’s true in my life.
If prayer is merely a quickly-offered ritual to bless the pork chops and
taters, or something reserved for the preacher during the weekly church thing, or
the place we turn when life turns against us, then we’ve missed the point
entirely! Prayer is the on-going
conversation with our holy and gracious Creator. It is the moment-by-moment check-in that keeps
us aligned with His will, and not wandering around chasing pleasures or
stuff.
And there is precious other option than the two. You either wander or follow. My pride makes me wander, chasing my
dreams. My praying helps me follow…doing
His will. And if that’s the case, it is
always time to choose carefully which you will do.
For You
Today
How
about establishing a prayer life that’s more than a hiccup before you dive into
breakfast? Let’s pray together:
Lord,
here we are in a new year that is barely out of the womb. You have graciously placed breath in our
lungs another day, and it is your glory that we live. Help us to use this day in the cause of
ending strife and wars, by ending the pride and selfish desires that want to
drive us. May we be people this year who
develop knees like our camel friends…calloused, so our hearts won’t be!
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