[Jas 4:4 ESV] 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
[Jas 2:23 ESV] 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"--and he was called a friend of God.
Okay. I know I would rather be a friend of God than His enemy. So I guess I better figure this friend thing out so I don't unwittingly choose friendship with the world. So how you define friend? I have told my children that true friendship is rare. The friends that I can truly depend on no matter what situation I find myself in can be counted on one hand. Now there are those who I love and care about and would sacrifice for but those who truly know me and my complete history, the good, the bad and the "unmentionable," well that lowers the number greatly.
Now that we have defined friendship, where does that leave us. We see that Abraham believed God. We know that Abraham lived his faith. He did the hard things that God asked of him even when it was difficult. That's what you do for a friend, you serve him and pray for him and place value on him and you spend time with him.
What does friendship with the world look like? To me it is surface and not that satisfying. It provides fun and distraction for a few seconds. It is fad driven and does not stand the test of time. At the first sign of trouble, that friendship is nowhere to be found.
So time for self evaluation. Look at your friendships. Are you all about fun and laughing and having a good time? Or do you want to spend time with someone who challenges you, calls you out on your stuff and wants to see you be all that God created you to be?
No comments:
Post a Comment