Jul
20
Anger From No Basis
Filed Under Daily Devotions
SCRIPTURE: 2 Chronicles 29-31; James 4
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. ~ James 4:1-3
OBSERVATION:
Many times, we are not upset at someone because of who they are, but because of what they have. We become jealous and covet what they have and we eventually begin to despise them. We don’t even know them, we don’t know their story, but we do know we don’t like them. Then this desire to have what they have comes not from our own needs, but from the envy deep inside.
APPLICATION:
I am guilty of this. I see what others have and I long for what they do. I think they’ve got it better than I do, they’ve got things figured out. I don’t know them, yet when I see them, jealousy creeps in. I don’t understand why. It’s not like my life is horrible in any way. In fact, I truly enjoy my life and where it is heading. I look forward to what God has planned for me. I just need to keep my focus on this and less focus on what others have.
PRAYER:
Thank you Father, for all that You have given me and all that You haven’t. Help me to understand and remember that it all will happen in Your time and on Your schedule. Please forgive me for the jealousy and anger I carry within me towards others.