WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING FOR?

James 4:1  What causes fights and quarrels among you?  Aren't they caused by selfish desires that fight to control you? 

Listen no matter how we word it or what lies we believe, we only fight each other for one reason - selfishness .  Now I am not talking about fighting for a cause or for something you believe in, I am talking about how we fight each other.   Fists fly, punches are thrown, angry words are yelled, fingers are pointed and  the claws can come out.  I have seen it happen and it sickens me.  I personally am a peace lover, so fighting of any kind turn my stomach into knots and my head pound.  Even boxing or wrestling makes me ill.  War movies are something I cannot watch.  I can't explain it but there is something inside of me that just wants to curl up in a ball and disappear when I hear or see fighting of any kind.

I remember as a young girl waiting for my bus at the local public school.  Every once and a while a couple boys or girls physically fight each other.  I remember wondering why, why are they doing this?  What is so darned important that they feel the need to hurt each other?   Why are they willing to beat someone with fists and/or words?  I truthfully have never understood this.  I could sit here and guess about the fights I have witnessed over the years and I could let my imagination run wild as to why people feel the need to fight each other, whether it is actual physical fighting or a war of words.  

Fighting, quarreling doesn't do anyone any good and it actually causes more harm than good. It solves nothing and no one wins.  Because fighting and quarreling is caused by our stupid selfish desires.  We want to prove our point, we want to make them see our side, we want to want what we want without having to explain or defend ourselves,  We are right and they are wrong so we have to show them the errors of their ways by putting a fist into their mouth.  We have done no wrong so we yell and scream hoping that our harsh words will finally get through their thick skull.

Anger and fighting and quarreling are pointless, meaningless and (well quite frankly) stupid!  You see what I have realized by reading this verse is that our fighting among each other, our quarreling is all for selfish reasons.  We don't want to look in the mirror at ourselves to see the reality of who we are, selfish people, so we fight others to prove who we think we are and who we pretend to be to make ourselves feel better.   All the while knowing that deep down inside we know the true reality of our selfishness.  

Our selfish, foolish pride will keep us arguing, fighting and quarreling until we look in the mirror and take an honest evaluation of ourselves.  We need to stop this craziness.  Our hands were not designed by God to punch someone in the face, they were designed to fold together in praise and join together with others hands to show love.  Our words were not given to us to hurt others, but to encourage others, empower others and praise God.  

Me personally I am sick and tired of all the quarreling and fighting that goes on in this world, in our governments, in our schools, in our job sites, in our churches and in our homes.  If we would just learn to think less about ourselves and more about others, maybe, just maybe this world would be a better place.  Wouldn't it be nice to have the world's governments working together to solve problems?  Wouldn't it be great if all the teachers and kids in the schools used their words to encourage and empower each other?  Wouldn't it be nice if our job sites were filled with people who accepted each other and worked together to accomplish a goal?  Wouldn't it be awesome for there to be no more denominations and all us believers joined together to celebrate Jesus Christ?  Imagine a home where the husband loves his wife, the wife respects her husband and the children listened to their parents?     

Lord, humble me.  Make me see others more than myself.  Remove all selfishness from me and help me to live like you, in Jesus name I pray, amen.