The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

James 4:1-4, “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?
2 You lust (covet) and do not have; so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God….”

7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”

There is little-to-no doubt but that our world is in a colossal mess! On every hand, things that were formerly acceptable to say and do are now becoming subject to challenge from everywhere. People who have only recently become aware of this conflict are asking, “What in the world is going on?”

James responds to the question, saying that the trouble comes from within believers themselves. We love pleasure too much! And the source of that pleasure is rooted in an internal conflict within ourselves. Covetness and hatred, even to the point of murder, have taken over our lives. We are living for ourselves and not for the LORD, who died and rose again to give us true life. Even when we pray, we receive no answer because God sees wrongful motives underlying our prayers.

Hope arises, when we discover that there is an answer to the madness that permeates our world. First, we must submit ourselves to God. We must reduce substantially the selfishness that pushes the evil agenda in our own lives. We must confess our sin and genuinely repent before God. At that point, we can sincerely draw near to God, and He promises to draw near to us. He will exalt us all the more, when we humble ourselves before Him. Our problems have their origin within our own lives. Thankfully, there is an answer; hopefully, His answer will come soon.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom