James 3 & 4 - wk3

"Selfish Desires"

Bryan Jones

Most of us find selfishness in other people to be a real turn off. But if we’re honest, very few of us are naturally selfless. In fact, most of us are unaware of just how selfish we really are. And left undealt with, our selfishness will harm our family and friendships … our character … even our relationship with God.

This Sunday we’re going to see that James pretty much just lays it on the line when it comes to our selfishness. How do you know when you are being driven by selfish ambition instead of love? James tells us to look at a couple of things. How do you respond when you don’t get what you want? What does your prayer life look like? Do you seek to glorify yourself or God?

I hope you will join me Sunday as we learn from James how we can remedy a divided, selfish heart. We will have to fight against selfish ambition as long as we live in this fallen world. But James tells us to live out of our identity in Jesus … to live in the fullness of God. I think we will see that looking away from ourselves and turning toward Jesus is the key to walking in joyful freedom from selfish ambition.