James 4:1-2a “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.”
When I develop a negative attitude or an inclination to wage battle with people around me, I must ask myself: what am I pursuing and how am I pursuing it? Too often, when frustrated from being overlooked, underutilized, or marginalized, I would bring the frustration home, being overly critical, picking quarrels, and generally making family members walk on eggshells. How grateful I am that God disrupted these attitudes in my life. He helped me see the desires battling within and applied the power of his Word to transform my perspective and start to rid me of the desire for success as the world defines and measures it. Praise God for his patience and persistence to rescue me from myself before I could cause permanent damage to my family and my life.
Father, thank you for your patient, unceasing work to make me more like Jesus. Thank you for redirecting my desires and goals, not just during those periods of frustration in a huge corporation, but also as you bless me with purposeful work I enjoy. Please use me in any way you wish today.