CJ Mahaney on Craving and Conflict in the Local Church

'In James 4, God interrupts our often romantic and selfish view of life and graciously prepares us for relational conflict. He also identifies the root issue underlying conflict and provides life-transforming wisdom for resolving conflict. Let’s make eye contact with God and receive his wisdom by reading, considering and responding to James 4:1-2:

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.

Serious relational conflict existed among the original recipients of this letter. This is no flattering portrayal of the early church. Although the recipients were genuinely converted, there was the distinct presence of relational hostility and the marked absence of reconciliation and relational harmony. Notice the plural in verse one: “quarrels”…“fights.” These were not occasional events, but common. It is a chronic condition that James is addressing here.

Particularly interesting is the fact that James does not specify the nature of the conflicts (although we could certainly speculate based on the rest of the letter). By deliberately (and brilliantly) making a general reference to “quarrels” and “fights,” James refuses to draw attention to the potentially distracting circumstances. The occasion and the issues are irrelevant to James, because they aren’t the source. Instead, he highlights the underlying biblical categories by which we can best understand every conflict.

What James understood—and what we must understand as well—is that the circumstances of a particular conflict can never be the root cause. Nor can they alter the root cause. That’s good news for us, because regardless of the occasion or circumstances of our quarrels and fights, the biblical categories always apply. This should give us hope for discerning our hearts and resolving conflict.

How wonderful that these verses were not only written for the original recipients, but for us as well! Here in this passage, God is kindly addressing us with a wealth of wisdom and economy of words—revealing both the root issue of relational conflict and its solution.

In this article we will briefly explore both the root and solution, for they are inseparable. From these few and wise words of James 4:1-2 we learn three things about relational conflict:
Conflict is more serious than we think.
Conflict is simpler to understand than we think.
Conflict is easier to resolve than we think.'

Read the entire article at:
www.newattitude.org/blog/entry.php?category=Application&id=399#jumpdown