Why, Oh Why, Do We Befriend It?

James 4:4-5 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. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

I cannot count how many times I have heard, or read, someone's rant about how an "alleged" friend betrayed them. It might have been someone who they knew for a long time, maybe even someone they considered a lifelong friend. Sadly, there have been friends who were closer than a brother or sister, and something happened to cause the betrayal. The fact is that we do not always know when someone we call "friend" is going to turn on us. If we did, we could nip that friendship before the betrayal takes place. I'm sure that we would all agree that if we knew ahead of time that someone was going to betray us somewhere down the line, we would not even start that relationship; we would avoid them like the plague! Well...why is it that we are so quick to become a friend of the world? When we go after the things of the world, and lust after what it has to offer, it will not be long before the world we befriended betrays us. The sad part about that, as born again believers, is that God already warns us in His Word about the consequences of becoming intimately involved with the world. First, when we choose the world as our friend, we are making ourselves an enemy to the One who laid down His life for us, and choosing friendship with Satan and his demons. We put ourselves on a path to becoming covetous, envious, and greedy. We begin to exalt ourselves above others as we begin to gather the world's riches, and become proud. Also setting ourselves up to having God resist us. The devils love to give us what they know will draw us away from God. The very things God blessed Lucifer with are the very things he now uses to put a wedge between us and our God...wealth, beauty, talent, and our own worldly (and foolish) wisdom. Sadly, as we begin praying selfishly, and God chooses to answer those prayers with a resounding "no", we start complaining and whining about how God does not care about our needs, and we eventually leave the local church, maybe even causing some division while we are at it. So...someone please tell me why any of us, who knows Jesus as Savior, would trade our friendship with Him to befriend the one who sought to destroy us in the first place? No worries, I'll wait...

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).