Scripture reading: Isaiah 11:6–9

The War To End All Wars

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (James 4:1–3)

 

World peace is perhaps the most elusive of all human aspirations. Whether we are talking about quarrels at the family dinner table or warfare among nations, the tragic effects of interpersonal conflict are everywhere. If only we could understand the root cause of conflict, perhaps we could find a way to peaceful relationships. A grammatical analysis of James 4:1–3 introduces us to a revolutionary understanding of the cause and cure of all human conflict.

,. Outward conflict is caused by inner conflict. (v. 1)

,. Inner conflict is caused when I don’t get the things I want. (v. 2)

,. I don’t get the things I want because I don’t ask God for them. (v. 2)

,. When I do ask God, he doesn’t give me what I want either. (v. 3)

,. God doesn’t give me what I want because my motives are impure and selfish. (v. 3)

In other words, we fight with others because we are fighting with God! Our wills are not surrendered. We pray, “Not Thy will but mine be done.” Our motives are selfish. And when we don’t get our way, well, we want to hurt someone. Imagine what would happen in the world if we started to address the root cause of conflict by surrendering our will to God and allowing him to purify our desires.

,. If my heart were pure and my will surrendered, then I would pray with right motives.

,. If I prayed with right motives, then my prayers would be answered.

,. If my prayers were answered, then all my needs would be met.

,. If all my needs were met, then my desires would be satisfied, and the inner conflict would cease.

,. If I had peace on the inside, then I would no longer want to hurt those on the outside and I would live in peace.

Sound simple? Yes, profoundly simple and simply profound. The war to end all wars takes place not on some foreign battlefield but within your heart and mine. The key to world peace is the surrender of the will. Calvary and Pentecost make it possible to find more joy in God getting his way than me getting mine! When that happens the Kingdom has come because his will is done on earth as it is done in heaven.

Maybe someone should explain this to the United Nations!

 

Peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but a means by

which we arrive at that goal.—Martin Luther King

 

point to ponder • Conflict on the inside means there will be conflict on the outside.

prayer focus • An area of your life where there is conflict.