Do you know where your fights and
arguments come from? They come from the selfish desires that war
within you.
JAMES 4:1 NCV
Just to piggyback a bit from
yesterday.... There will of course be times when you are passionate
about something and will fight to right a wrong or protect a loved
one. Often if we feel we have been attacked or have been attacked
men launch into attack mode. We may begin to
believe that we must defend our honor or intelligence or
loyalty, to name a few things that just popped to mind. When we
come from that coiled up space of defending ourselves the enemy
smells the blood in the water and pounces, whispering in our
ears:
"He has no right to talk to
you that way. Blow his doors off!"
" She is your wife not your
mother. Don't let her disrespect you like that! She needs to
understand that this will not fly!"
" Show them who is in control!
You are!"
When is fighting
justified?
I just completed a study of the
book of Nehemiah. There are at least three instances over the
course of the re-building of the wall where Nehemiah shows
righteous indignation at the behavior of those who are oppressing
others and/or disobeying God's Law. In the final chapter of the
book we are told that he has returned to Babylon for an
undisclosed amount of time after twelve years in Jerusalem. When he
returns to Jerusalem he discovers that many have broken the
solemn promise they made regarding offerings, keeping the Sabbath
holy and marrying women who were not Jewish. He locks the city
walls stopping the flow of goods on the Sabbath day as well as
flying into a rage:
"I rebuked them and called
curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their
hair. I made them take an oath in God's name and said: "You are
not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you
to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for
yourselves. Was it not because of marriages like these that
Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no
king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over
all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women. Must we
hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and
are being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women?"
(NEH 13:25-27 NIV)
The reference to not marrying
foreign women needs to be understood in context. Distractions and
pride sidetracked even King Solomon and led men away from
God.
K
Ministries 
