LEARNING DAILY

James 4:4, Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

I wonder how many of today’s Christians believe it is possible to “accept” Jesus Christ without forsaking the world. That thought was brought up in an article written by A.W. Tozer and I had to stop reading it to consider what he was writing. He followed this thought with the above verse from James. He also used 1 John 2:15, “If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him.” Read what Tozer also wrote: “When God declares a man righteous, He instantly sets about to make him righteous. Our error today is that we do not expect a converted man to be a transformed man, and as a result of this error our churches are full of substandard Christians. A revival, among other things, a return to the belief that real faith invariably produces holiness of heart and righteousness of life.”

The wisdom of the world tells us that to be successful, a person must do whatever it takes to receive or become what we want out of life. No one else is going to provide for us, so we do what we must to do so. But to live this way as a Believer can never please God. Trying to live this way only brings failure and defeat which is not what God has planned for those who truly commit to Him.

A different way to believe is found in James 1:17, “Every good gift comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning”. God gives good gifts; He does not change. That means that he provides everything that is good in the lives of His followers. Because Believers can believe that He does so, they do not have to fight with others or abuse them to get what they want in life. Instead, Believers obey what the Word of God says and serve one another in order to help them meet their needs.

Jame’s writing in the verse above is stating something rather obvious to all Believers. One cannot try to be friends with the world and with God at the same time. He is not writing that Believers cannot be friends with non-believers. The Bible talks about counting the cost in becoming a Christian (Luke 14:28) just like one would first calculate the cost and profit of constructing a building. Becoming a Christian, a true Believer, is not to be made impulsive or without consideration of the cost. A true Believer has sensed the terrible result of sin in their life and truly wants to be set free of it. They have come to realize the only One who can set them free Is Jesus Christ; therefore, the commitment is made to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and the desire to walk a narrow way with Him in order for Him to change them. This is not a part-time commitment as it involves all areas of one’s life.

Jesus wants to be in charge of all areas of your life, Believer! He wants to be the center of your life 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. Our response as Believers is to allow Him to do just that! We live in the world. But we are to be different from the world!