DEVOTION – DAY 613

James 4:4 “God’s Enemy”

James 4:4 “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”

James, the brother of Jesus, wrote about adulterous people. Who are they? They refer to people who were spiritually unfaithful. Although they claim to be Christians, they actually agree with worldly thinking and values more than they agree with God and what He says in His Word. Outwardly, they may say they follow the Lord but their actions and behavior may show that they love the world more.

As an example, many people today including Christians think that sex outside of wedlock is acceptable. They think that what people do with their own bodies is no one else’ business. Sexual purity until marriage is seen as old-fashioned. This is because promiscuity is openly promoted across social media accessed by people and even children alike. This is directly opposed to God’s Word that calls sexual promiscuity a sin, and the need to keep the marital bed pure. Sadly, many young people including children raised as Christians, ignore what God says in the Bible and instead give in to their sexual desires as they please. That is why James warns clearly that being friends with the world – doing what the world does, means that people will end up being God’s enemy. We cannot claim to be friends with God and friends with the world at the same time. 

We know of someone who was serving the Lord in a full-time ministry. He was attracted to the same sex. Instead of praying to God to help him resist this temptation to sin, he looked for passages of Scripture to justify his desires. He eventually found a church that supports and welcomes LGBTQ people and he now serves as one of the pastors there to promote a liberal interpretation of the Bible. By doing so, he had become an enemy of God.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, we humbly ask that you search our hearts and help us to purge all traces of worldliness so that we will always obey and follow your Word always. Please help us to be faithful to you and your Word always. In Jesus Christ wonderful name we pray. Amen.

Questions

  1. Do you take an active role to teach your children and/or grandchildren God’s Word? Or do you delegate that to the Sunday school teachers in your church to do so?
  2. Do you give guidance to your children as to the limits of their exposure to social media and its influences?
  3. What are some issues that are worldly that you think are openly challenging God’s Word causing Christians’ waver in their thinking? Share and Discuss.