¹What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?

Behind every human conflict lies an inner war. This passage is not to be taken simply as literary hyperbole; James is not using over-exaggeration to make a point. Faith in God’s inspired Word leads us to take what seems like an extreme statement quite seriously. The book of Job, for example, pulls back the curtains that limited our understanding of conflict to show greater realities behind the scenes in the unseen spiritual world. Similarly, James confronts us with the realities of conflict, taking us to a higher view of things, beyond just saying that two people are having a hard time getting along. We are not to be satisfied with superficial methods, like simply insisting that people get along. There is more going on under the surface, and that is where James directs our attention.

The English phrase seems normal enough; we are all involved in quarrels and interpersonal conflicts from time to time. However, the word “quarrels” translates the Greek word “polemos,” which is used everywhere else in Scripture for intense military conflict. When I am in conflict with another person, faith in James’ teaching as the inspired Word of God should take me first of all to self-examination: what is driving me in this conflict? I need to turn my focus off the other person’s fault and turn the spotlight on my own motivations. I need to have the self-reflective heart of David, the man of God, who prayed:

Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. (Ps. 139:23–24)

And I need to humbly acknowledge my inner bent toward sin, as Jeremiah wrote:

“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9)

I must look for the root problem in my own life first. Jesus says, “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (Matt. 7:5). I cannot truly resolve conflict until I embrace complete honesty with myself. Only then can I think and act wisely. David wrote, “Behold, You [God] desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom” (Ps. 51:6).

Lord, I commit to ruthless honesty about what drives me. Help me see clearly.