James 3:16

"For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing." "there is" -and not, there might be or could be. One cannot practice such earthly wisdom without harming self, loved ones and others."disorder" -"instability,. state of disorder, disturbance" (Thayer p. 21); "unruliness" (Arndt p. 30); "anarchy, restless disturbance" (Alford p. 1614). This would include disorder in the home, in. marriage and in the congregation. "There is. kind of person who is undoubtedly clever; he has an acute brain and. skilful tongue; but his effect in any committee, in any Church, in any group, is to cause trouble, to drive people apart, to foment strife, to make trouble" (Barclay p. 110). (1 Corinthians 14:33; 2 Corinthians 12:20). "and every evil thing" -that's quite an assertion! Every worthless, vile, wicked, base and good-for-nothing thing. The wisdom from above is full of good fruits, the wisdom of this world is full of trouble and evil. "disharmony and all other kinds of evil" (Phi). "All sorts of confusion, from public squabbles in the church to personal tensions and frustrations, are sure to result when Christians employ earthly wisdom" (Kent p. 134). Such verses cry out for. complete dependence upon God and His truth. For apart from such things, human wisdom can very quickly degenerate into jealousy, personal ambition…and human leadership can very quickly become tainted by human pride. God seems to be telling us here that the damage done by earthly wisdom is immeasurable, it just never has. stopping point concerning the evil and harm that it can generate. "Such an attitude…leads to every conceivable kind of evil: immorality, dishonestly, discord. Nothing good can grow in such an atmosphere as that" (Draper p. 107).

Point To Note:

Before we move on, let us seriously reflect upon the above verses. Do such things characterize our lives? What about our relationships with other people and especially our brethren? What about our marriage? If our human relationships are always in turmoil, something is seriously wrong. Too many professed Christians are trying to live by earthly wisdom---and this is seen in marital conflicts and strife in too many local congregations. But God never simply leaves us with the negative, hence the next section.