The danger of being friends with the world
You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:4-6 NLT
Being on both sides of the line is dangerous, as every driver knows, for he has been taught to stay on his own side of the road. That is a fundamental traffic rule for safe driving. This principle is also valid to Christians to not straddle the line. He cannot be a friend of God and a friend of the world. As James says from the text, “friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God.” The Lord Jesus Christ, in the Sermon on the Mount said that “no one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other” (Matthew 6:24 NIV). A Christian cannot pursue his selfish ambitions and still remain loyal to God. In fact, when he turns toward the pleasures of this world, he turns his back to God. To love the world is adultery before God. The Lord Jesus Christ is described by John as the bridegroom. “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready” (Revelation 19:7). Paul also describes the church as the bride and the Lord Jesus Christ as the husband; “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her… and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Ephesians 5:25, 27). We cannot become enamored with the world and say that we love God. The world does not tolerate friends of God, for they are considered enemies. As Christians, we are placed in this world but we should not be of the world. The Lord Jesus Christ prayed for believers that they will not be influenced by the ruler of the world while they are serving God. “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it” (John 17:15-16). When a person purposely turns to the world to become part of it, he has made a conscious choice of rejecting God and the teaching of his Word. God wants us to resist the temptation of turning to the world. Instead, He wants us to come to Him in humility and ask for His grace that will help us be victorious against worldly pleasures. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).
Blessings,
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