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James 4:2
2 Ye lust [epithumeo], and [kai] have [echo] not [ou]: ye kill [phoneuo], and [kai] desire to have [zeloo], and [kai] cannot [ou] [dunamai] obtain [epitugchano]: ye fight [machomai] and [kai] war [polemeo], yet [de] ye have [echo] not [ou], because [dia] ye [humas] ask [aiteo] not [me]. KJV-Interlinear
2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. NASB
Mankind will lust for things, desire things, even commit murder in order to get the things he wants. And this ultimate sin, murder, is often used to justify an objective of getting something or establishing a belief in something, which things are falsehoods or temporary anyway.
Humanity will take life which is eternal, in order to obtain something that is temporary or false. Mankind will commit sin, prejudice, deceit, hatred, gossip, and so forth and in so doing exchange his eternal destiny for something that is temporary in this life.
Esau exchanged his birthright, his entire inheritance, for a single meal. Was that a smart trade? No. But then he never intended to keep his end of the bargain. He intended to cheat Jacob out of both the meal and the inheritance.
And no one can fool God and have life both ways.
So you repeatedly do things over and over again, and get the same results - nothing. And you get these poor results, you do not get what you expect to get, you are never satisfied, because the sin nature is incapable of providing what you want, and you do not look to God in the correct way, in order to get what you want.
And when you do ask, you ask for illegitimate things, or you want illegitimate desires fulfilled, or your whole pattern of life is based on the priorities of the sin nature.
Whether you want passion or power, wealth or food, something personal or something public, or whatever, when its source is based in the sin nature, then the only results you can get, are false or poor results.
Seeking provision from the sin nature produces dissatisfaction, never fulfillment. There will never be enough of whatever it is you want or need. Sooner or later, your attitude will resort to greater sins, even murder, even as you murder (ruin) your own destiny (life), in stubbornness, without having a second thought about it.
And who drives your attitude? You do. You are your own worst enemy and you are the only one who drives and drives and refuses to relent on your sin nature driven attitude or pattern of life.
Whether you are destitute or a billionaire, when operating in the clutches of your sin nature, you will never have fulfillment in life. You have only the delusion of what the world provides you with temporarily, or the perpetual frustration of never succeeding in life, or the constant agitation of facing problems in life.
And as James teaches us here, all of these inabilities lead to blame and strife, and discontent or even violence against others. And all of these and aggravations are due to your refusal to approach God in the right way.
