Friendship

We can all probably think back to a time when we were young, and our parents told us to be careful about who we were friends with because we would be known by the company we keep. Some of us listened, and some of us, not so much. But I think both groups can look back and see the impact both decisions had on our lives.

There is the same warning for the Christian as we try to live our lives for the glory of Christ. We must be very cautious about what influences we have in our lives. When we got saved, the Lord didn’t take us out of the world; we still have to live in this septic tank called the world, our society, and many of the things in this world still call out to us, inviting us back into a life that we spiritually died from.

This is nothing new; followers of Christ have been dealing with such temptations since salvation through grace occurred. James, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote to Jewish Christians who still struggled with hanging on to their old ways, and he preaches to them a powerful spiritual truth and warning. In James 4:4, “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” This can sound pretty harsh, but we must understand that James loved these people, and love will cause us to go to great lengths for the safety of those we love, and sometimes that can come across as harsh. James draws a line in the sand; we cannot say that we love Jesus and still want to be friends with all the junk of the world. Why? Because all the nasty stuff of the world comes from satan, the enemy of our soul. So, why would we want to be friends with him? If we choose to do so, James calls us adulteresses. We are sharing our love meant for Christ with the devil himself.

James doesn’t leave us there, though. He gives us instruction on what we should do if we find ourselves once again behaving like heathen, a lost person. We see this later in verses 7-8, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” There is always opportunity for grace and mercy to be shown, even when we choose to cheat on God. Jesus doesn’t want us to stay where we are; there is a plea to come back to Christ and to submit once again to who you are in Him. Repent, draw near to the one that loves us and gave Himself for us. We are never too far away from God that He cannot bring us back. I am so thankful for a God that forgives and loves us despite ourselves and our failures, aren’t you?