For where envying and strife is,there is confusion and every evil work. (James 3:16)
This is very instructive because it shows us that confusion
and evil works have direct results—envying and strife.
Confusion happens when a person is torn in two or more
directions at once by different forces, each which act on different desires
that can’t both be gratified. In
the church, members’ confusion tends to arise when commandments and doctrine
and the desire to do good pulls one way and the philosophies of the world with
negative peer pressure and desire for popularity and praise of the world and
the weight of “this is just how things are today” pulls another way.
Confusion combined with disobedience to the commandments
leads to a pitiable state of unhappiness and discontent. (Wickedness never was happiness..) The discomfort at this stage causes one
to cast about, not for ways to change for the better, but to find something or
someone to blame. “Who is causing
my problem? It can’t be me.” Anyone who seems happy is both despised
for their “simplistic outlook” and envied for a state that seems forever out of
reach. External requirements and
expectations become burdensome, particularly in the area where sin is. It becomes easier to fight the
commandments than to obey them.
But let’s turn this around. If confusion and evil works bring out envy and strife, then
it is just as true that certainty (testimony) and every good work bring out
contentment and peace.
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