This week Cheryl and I are helping with Vacation Bible School at our church. One of our daughters is also here helping, and four of our grandchildren are staying with us and attending. Those of you who have volunteered for VBS know that it is a rewarding experience, getting to share the love of God in Christ with the children all week long. It is also exhausting, and you are a special kind of tired by the end of the week.

Already several times this week I have witnessed “meltdowns.” Kids who get overstimulated will often times overreact to things. I was thinking about the circumstances that led to the “meltdowns” I saw and was reminded of this passage.

James 4:1–10 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

One kid wanted something another kid was playing with. You want something but don’t get it. Another kid thought he should get to go before everyone else. You cannot have what you want. Arguments ensued. What causes fights and quarrels among you?

These were teachable moments. However, people don’t always want to learn the lessons that God wants us to learn. This is true for adults as well as children. But look at the wonderful advice God gives us here through James:

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.

We skip over that all too quickly. God promises that if we resist the devil, he will flee. But our first instinct always seems to be to give in to our sinful desires. Lord, have mercy.

The words “Grieve, mourn and wail” in verse 9 are all calls to and signs of repentance, turning away  from your sin and turning back to God. “Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom” is a further call to repentance. It is turning from trying to find satisfaction in the things of the world and seeking to live God’s way.

We strive to do this because we know what God has already done for us. It is our response to Jesus having paid the penalty for our sin and then conquering death for us. That is why try, each day, to humbly submit my life to Jesus. It is what we were trying to teach the kids at VBS, too.