The Hidden Cause of Outward Problems
The Hidden Cause of Outward Problems
Daily Reflection: 1/3/2024 — James 4:1
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? — James 4:1
Every now and then the Bible provides such an insightful analysis of the person that it slips by us without our noticing.
“What causes fights and quarrels among you?”
There are many answers at the ready, and most of them have something to do with the other person. “If only they would improve, repent, calm down, stop being so damned stubborn, etc.”
It is easy to locate the source of our trouble in other people because we, who are spiritual and called to fix our eyes on what is unseen, are still governed by the flesh, by what is seen. Therefore, when there is a problem, it’s not within that we look, but outside of us, where our neighbor, sibling, friend, co-worker, or spouse is standing.
“The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate” (Genesis 3:21).
“Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father's estate with me” (Luke 3:12).
[W]hen this son of yours returns from squandering your wealth with prostitutes, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ (Luke 15:30).
How easy it is to find another as the source of our problems, and yet James leads us to look elsewhere by answering his question with a question meant for our consideration.
“Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?”
It is the interior conflict, the unsettledness of spirit, that causes to respond with external strife, violence, and all manner of condemnation of another person. How many of us have “solved” the problem by dealing with the other, only to find that in manifests over and over again?
James would have us pull it from the root, that’s how you get rid of weeds. The urge to be at conflict with another should cause us to recognize our need for grace, and turn to Christ that he might come and bring his Shalom.
Consider these quotes:
Don’t say, “that person gets on my nerves.” Think, “that person sanctities me.” — St. Josemaria Escriva.
No one is to be called an enemy, all are your benefactors, and no one does you harm. You have no enemy except yourselves. — St. Francis of Assisi
I don't like that man. I must get to know him better. ― Abraham Lincoln
All three realize that the primary place work needs to happen is within. May God grant us the grace to recognize this need and turn to him for help.
Heavenly Father, you have broken the power of canceled sin in our lives, now lead us on to freedom from the thoughts, habits, and inclinations that have taken root in our lives. As the Psalmist prayed, so we pray, Search us, O God, and know our hearts! Try us and know our thoughts! See if there be any grievous way in us, and lead us in the way everlasting!
