Starting Off the Work-Week Right

From my Pastor's Blog/Devotion.  Hope it blesses you as well!

Make a Choice




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.



— James 4:4





Lot was the nephew of the only man identified in the Bible as the intimate friend of God, Abraham.



Abraham essentially wanted to walk with God, but Lot did not. Abraham was a man who possessed a deep friendship with God. Lot was interested in a friendship with God, but he was also very interested in a friendship with the world.



The apostle James asked the question, "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" (James 4:4).



James is saying that if you are going to follow Jesus Christ, you can't be a friend of this world. And "the world" means this world system that is hostile to the truth of God.



In case you haven't noticed it, this culture we are living in does not promote Christian values. In fact, if anything, this culture promotes the opposite.



It seems at every turn there is hostility toward those of us who believe there is right and wrong, morality and immorality. In a day when anything goes, people don't like those who hold to a set of standards and are unshakeable in them.



So if I want to be a friend to this world, if I want to go out there and do whatever my little heart desires, and engage in any pleasure that interests me, I cannot be the friend of God.



It's like having a foot on the dock and a foot in a rowboat that is beginning to drift away. You are going to have to make a choice. You can't live in two worlds.



You need to walk with God, as Abraham did.