Get Serious

1-2 Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.

2-3 You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way.

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You lust and do not have, so you (A)commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and (B)do not receive, because you ask [a]with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request [b]on your pleasures.

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Footnotes

  1. James 4:3 Lit wrongly
  2. James 4:3 Lit in

You desire but do not have, so you kill.(A) You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive,(B) because you ask with wrong motives,(C) that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

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