WHO DO YOU BEFRIEND?

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that He jealously longs for the Spirit He has caused to dwell in us?

James 4:4-5

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In life, there is one major choice every person needs to make, a choice more important than any other. This decision isn’t really a matter of life versus death per se because it’s a matter of life that can go one of two very different ways.

On one hand, a person can choose to believe in Jesus and accept God’s free gift of everlasting life in Heaven when this earthly life ends, a life that will be totally free from every single affliction that this life brings.

Indeed, in Heaven there will be no longer be sin, physical or mental illness, grief, heartache, financial difficulty, or any other kind of trouble that we might come up against. In its place, we will live in all consuming love and peace, basking in the glory of living with God and Jesus forever.

Conversely, someone can opt to reject salvation through Jesus, snubbing their nose at God’s generous blessing in exchange for enjoying all that the world can offer, a world that is ready to meet one’s every desire, especially the sinful ones.

These people will also live on after death on earth but there eternal life will be one of torment and suffering in the damnation of Hell. There it will be too late to reverse things, no escape after realizing the terrible mistake that was made. It’s a place that no person should ever willingly go to.

It’s this space, the ultimate destinations of Heaven and Hell, that we find James speaking into as we look again at our scripture verses in chapter 4. There he writes:

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. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that He jealously longs for the Spirit He has caused to dwell in us? Vv. 4-5

Read between the lines here and the point is clear. You can’t have it both ways in life, drawing from the world and from God. God made it clear in the scriptures that He is jealous (Exodus 20:5) and will not except anything except the absolute dedication and loyalty of his people. In regard to the Old Testament Israelites, his covenant was simple. He would be their God, bringing to bear His total protection and provision if they would remain entirely faithful to Him. Through the ages since delivering His ten famous commandments, He still expects His created people to be loyal to Him.

Unfortunately, like in biblical times, first in the Old Testament and then in the first century of Christianity to the present, men and women have chosen to be adulterous, a greater friend of the world and its ways than the One who created it all. The creation is worshiped and adored more than the Mighty Creator.

It’s this spiritual infidelity that places a multitude of people in opposition to the most powerful force in existence, an enemy of the Lord God Most High, the Lord who jealously yearns for all people to gladly embrace the saving He offered through Jesus out of love so that they would not perish but gain everlasting life (John 3:16).

All this leads to the question that forms the title of today’s message:

Who do you befriend?

Have you chosen friendship with the world and enmity with God, an enmity that will conclude with an eternal residence in Hell?

Or have you decided to gain and maintain a special, divine companionship with God, receiving and accepting His offer of eternal life through believing in Jesus, His Son, and in doing so, receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit as well as an inheritance of the very Kingdom of Heaven?

My prayer is that it is the latter but if you are reading this today and are not saved, I highly urge you to change your friendship this very moment, saying farewell to the world and hello to the Lord and His blessed offerings. It’s a decision you will never regret in this life or in the one yet to come.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.