Today we come to the last paragraph of James 3:
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
James has had us looking in the mirror, first at our actions, then our words, now going deeper into our hearts, looking for roots of jealousy and ambition. There we will find the reasons why we do what we do and say what we say. These twin motivations are not compatible with being a follower of Christ; they come from His opposer. Our thoughts and our motivations must be filtered for purity, calmed by Christ, having a balanced perspective of who we are, teachable, looking on others with the mercy God has on us, Spirit driven, honest and humble. Notice how much good God has to do in our lives to offset and remove these two negative tendencies we have. But it is like sowing seed; there is an abundance crop of peace - not only in relationships, but deep in our souls, when we allow Him to make such a transformation. Today may we allow Him to make the changes to move us from bitterness and ambition to true peace and joy.
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