The Cure for Ben and Jerry's Part One

The Cure for Ben and Jerry’s Part One 

“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." James 4:1-3 (ESV) 

My wife told me to put my shirt on when she seen my skin glowing red, my sinuses were throbbing and my “Fanny Perpendicular” was sore from some rough boating during the Memorial Day weekend. But it was only Tuesday and I thought this all would clear up by the time our FFC ministry weekend would begin. I was wrong and I started feeling that I would be hindered from receiving any message that God would have for us. Wrong again! He is faithful and I am a “Dupa” (my wife tells me it’s Polish for “Fanny Perpendicular”). So even if I went into the Families for Christ weekend sore and sunburned it didn’t deter me from finding something to glean from it and here it is. 

For those of you who suffer from the desire to eat Ben and Jerry’s ice cream there is a cure. If you feel the need to eat Ben and Jerry’s ice cream there is a cure. If your demand turns to an expectation of eating Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, there is a cure. If you feel disappointed or feel the need to punish because your desire, need, demand and expectation of eating Ben and Jerry’s ice cream has not been met, there is a cure. This is not to suggest that “Chubby Hubby” or “Chunky Monkey” was the focal point of the following list but they are, in fact, levels of development in conflict. 

Pastor Tim Shorey, of Trinity Fellowship Church in Toms River, NJ, had walked us through how to root out conflict in our relationships during his last session of the weekend and he gave us the slow motion look at it. The use of Ben and Jerry’s is just a silly way of replacing the use of the word idol (just for the record, I am fan of the “Americone Dream” flavor of Ben and Jerry’s). When you at look into James 4:1-10 and put it into slow motion the development for conflict becomes clear. It all starts with a simple phrase that we hear our children/grandchildren use and we have said it ourselves. “I want something” and since it has been bought it up I desire a decent size bowl of Americone Dream ice cream with hot fudge…and whipped cream…and a cherry on top. 

From that simple desire it can escalate from there. Desire turns to need, need turns to demand, demand turns to expectation, expectation leads to disappointment and disappointment results in punishment. This would be why James asks his readers, ”What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?” A quote that Pastor Tim gave us that puts this into perspective, “Whatever controls your heart exercises an inescapable influence on your life.” So what to do at this point? Well I said there was a cure and here is what Pastor Tim prescribes. 

First, be born again!! James 1:18

Second, call it what it is. Idolatry!! James 4:4

Thirdly, stop being cocky!! James 4:6

Fourthly, Draw near to God and expect grace from God!! James 4:8

This is a great remedy to clean out the garbage that builds up in our hearts. I am sure that the last three steps are on a daily need-to-do basis but there is something that we can refill our hearts with, I’ll cover that in the next Freedom Fighter. In the meantime Brothers, Ben and Jerry’s is a mighty fine ice cream to enjoy but when the heat is on, it melts. That is the truth for any of those idols that have influence in our lives. – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a regular contributor to Freedom Fighter 

GPS – God’s Positioning System: 1 Kings 22; Psalm 129; Proverbs 10

Compass Pointers: “Now brethren, this is one of our greatest faults in our Christian lives. We are allowing too many rivals of God. We actually have too many gods. We have too many irons in the fire. We have too much theology that we don’t understand. We have too much churchly institutionalism. We have too much religion. Actually, I guess we just have too much of too much! God is not in our beings by Himself! He cannot do His will in us and through us because we refuse to put away the rivals. When Jesus Christ has cleansed everything from the temple and dwells there alone, He will work!” I Talk Back to the Devil   A.W. Tozer

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 23:7; Level 2: Proverbs 23:12-17

Anchored to the Rock: If I should neglect prayer but a single day, I should lose a great deal of the fire of faith. Martin Luther