“Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.” James 3:13 ESV
Reflection: can you spot demonic behavior from people around you?
The EU, and therefore all EU countries, even including Norway, have passed laws to start feeding cows an additive that will reduce their gas (in both directions). Since it is man made additive, I recommend you do some research on this and come up with your own conclusion whether this additive is harmful for humans and the animals. What the long term effects will be on the environment, on animals and humans. Now, why in the world would anyone think of doing this, and then actually do it? You probably guessed it – let’s just call them “the climate people”. There has been a desire to control the weather and the climate pretty much as long as I remember. Lyndon Johnson gave a speech when he was VP, saying “if you control the weather, you control the world”. And, while there is a lot of money and power interests behind this, what is truly behind driving all of this?
James wrote something very interesting, that we need to look at. “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.” James 3:13-16 ESV. Did you see that? He is calling earthly wisdom “demonic”. And, he gives us two very specific examples of what that looks like.
- Jealousy
- Selfish Ambition
Wow. That is pretty serious to think about, as we all have probably felt or been jealous at times, or have had some selfish ambition. Now, with behavior coming from statements like “man doesn’t need God; man can improve nature”, or “man can make a better human being”, we can clearly see demonic workings behind such efforts and statements. It is perhaps the pinnacle of selfish ambition, maybe even jealousy of the Creator God. But this goes much deeper, as we all in our flesh have this tendency in the flesh. The flesh is at war with the Spirit of God. Paul wrote “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” Galatians 5:17 ESV.
This is why Paul so insistently tells the churches to “put to death the flesh”, and instead live according to the Spirit. “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Romans 8:13 ESV. “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5:16, 24 ESV. We looked at a long list Paul wrote to Timothy, which comes from selfishness (notice the first one) “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” 2 Timothy 3:2-5 ESV.
So how then can we know then what wisdom is from God, you might ask? Glad you asked, because James continues, “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”James 3:17-18 ESV. That should be what follows us, what we leave behind. If we let God transform us, to be more and more like Jesus. So today, first look at yourself and your own behavior. Are you often jealous? Are you driven by selfishness? Selfish ambition? Know that it is demonic, you are being attacked and used by darkness. Reject this, and instead seek God. James wrote “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”James 4:7 ESV. And, we can also use the same test for behavior we see around us, to determine whether it is wisdom from above or from below.