(Adapted from the message for last Sunday.)

James talked about conflict that exists in us, the arguments we have with ourselves and each other. Conflicts between people. Conflicts between companies. Conflicts between countries.

James says that the source of those conflicts is our desires to make ourselves happy, to make ourselves comfortable, to avoid hard honest conversations.

Think about the arguments that happen in the car seats of cars between kids. Think about the arguments that happen between political parties.

Why don’t we want people who are not like us, people who don’t like us, to be around? Because they make us feel uncomfortable. Because we might have to do hard work to have conversations with them. Because we might have to change our patterns or habits or minds.

But we don’t really want that, most of us. We don’t like being that way.

So how do we receive God? How do we be friends with God? How do we draw near to God?

By starting to prefer God’s directions and plans and intentions to ours. By learning to chose God rather than ourselves.

In the Gospel reading from Mark 9 this morning, we can find some help.

• Start turning toward God like a child, not like a contractor.  A child with a father looks for affection, for relationship, for approval, for comfort. A contractor looks for the terms of the agreement, the work and compensation. More than once,  Jesus points the disciples to a child as a way to think about seeking God.
• Start turning toward others as a servant, not as competitors. Rather than the competition for scarce resources that James puts at the heart of our troubles, we can begin to serve others, as Jesus says. Look for what will help others. Look for what will develop them, equip them, help them to grow. We can learn that, by the way, by serving people who cannot serve us. Giving up our stuff, our status, our comfort for people who cannot repay us is a way of learning to serve God.
• Start turning toward yourself as a loved one, not a judged one. We work hard to measure up, to live up to expectations, to please a parent or a boss, to earn attention. Often we do that because we feel like we’re failing. But the good news about Jesus is that we are loved, enough that he came to serve us, which included dying for us. We can start to live as if that is true.

All of these involve hard work. They involve making choices that are not about our own comfort, but are about our own well-being.