James 4. “What causes fights and quarrels among you?!” (4:1) What a good question. Why are people fighting? Why are people so upset with each other? Why do I sometimes get so frustrated with someone else? What is going on?

James offers a brilliant explanation of human nature – fallen as it is – showing that quarrels are the result of unfulfilled, prideful desires warring within us. “…your passions war within you… you desire and do not have… you covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.” (2:1-2)

At its root, the problem is that people are often trying to run their own kingdom. When life is all about my kingdom, I am reaching and grasping for things that were not meant to be mine and running over everyone else in the process. Dallas Willard comments, “Tremendous unhappiness comes from people trying to run their own “kingdom.” It is a tough job. Everyone is trying to run their own kingdom too, and they have little to work with except to covet, fight, and be angry. Life is filled with the human disagreements that fuel contempt.” This is why James comments that we cannot be friends with both the way of the world and with God (4:4-5).

The way forward – the solution to all the quarreling and grasping and trying to have our own way – is to surrender our kingdom to God. As citizens of God’s kingdom, we seek to honor him and pray for his will to be done. Then we get his answers to our prayers (4:3). Jesus simply calls us to put confidence in him and know that he will act on our behalf. 

Surrendering our kingdom to God’s kingdom requires us to give up our pride and self-reliance. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (4:6) James gives us several exhortations about how to do that, look for the verbs (4:7-17):

• Submit to God
• Resist the devil
• Draw near to God
• Cleanse your hands/confess
• Purify your hearts/surrender
• Mourn and weep for your sins/repent
• Humble yourselves before God
• Do not speak evil against one another
• Stop boasting
• Do the right thing

Recall a recent quarrel you had. What do you think caused it? How are you tempted by pride and your own kingdom? What do you need to submit to God today?