Why Do We Argue?

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

James 4:1-3 

As a child, my brother and I would argue.  Especially when cooped up in a car for those family vacations.  We would argue about who was looking out of whose window, who was taking up more of the back seat, who was touching who, and on and on. We would argue until Dad started to slow the car and head for the shoulder, because we knew EXACTLY what would be coming next.  More than once, Dad told us to get out and run to the sign and back or just run in circles so we could get that energy out before the belt did that for us.

Well, guess what? We, as humans, tend to argue and fight about pretty much anything. Think about some of the things we argue about.  Will Jesus come back before, during or after the trying times? Here's the thing, Jesus will come back when God says so and not before. So what purpose does arguing serve?  

We argue because one group or another believes differently than do we. So what? My job is to be a source of God's Love.  Those who choose to believe differently are no less worthy of God's Love than anyone else. 

We argue about skin pigmentation.  Why? Do we not need the same air?  Do we not love? Do we not weep when we are hurt?  When the only difference is skin pigmentation (which NOT ONE OF US had a choice in the matter) then why make it a source of argument?  

You see where I'm going with this?  We tend to argue because of differences that, in all reality, are irrelevant.  The message of Jesus is to: 1) Love the Lord your God with all you heart, soul, mind and strength, and 2) to love others in the same way you love yourself.  So if we are so busy arguing and fighting, what does that say about our relationship with God, and what does that say about our view of ourselves?

God created each of us as unique, yet in His image.  Isn't it about time we started remembering that?