Friends with the World, Enemies with God
“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” -James 4:4
As in many other places in Scripture, here we see in the epistle of James a clear and undeniable doctrine: the world, and its characteristic selfishness and unrestrained desires, is at complete odds with God.
It can be hard as a new christian to make this adjustment, and to fully realize this truth, but it is critical for spiritual growth and success. Since we have all been born into this world as sinners, and since we have been worldly and selfish by our very nature, it can take strong measures for us to learn that if we want to please God, we ought not to befriend the world any longer.
In essence, the world says: do what you want, you’re the boss. But not only that, but the world provides all sorts of unclean and filthy means to satisfy our selfishness. Sexual immorality, drugs, alcohol, music, television and movies, and all sorts of wicked entertainment is spewed at us from the world, and it’s all for one purpose: to make us into gods.
The spirit of worldliness has been the same perverseness since the very beginning of the mankind, when the serpent tempted Eve and spoke in her ear: “ye shall be as gods. . .” (Genesis 3:5b). The basic element of such a spirit is that you can call the shots.
The devil seemingly says, “sure, God’s an okay guy, but do you really have to listen to Him for everything? Why don’t you just do what will make you happy, and if you’ve got any leftover time, you can give that to God?”
This sort of thinking is at complete odds with God. The Lord has made all things, and deserves the utmost love and devotion. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). Our own sinful natures want to make ourselves happy, and live for our own pleasure, yet the Bible teaches over and over that we are to seek to make God happy, and do things that are pleasing to Him.
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” -1 Corinthians 6:19-20
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” -Romans 12:1-2
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” -Colossians 3:1-3
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