Who do you want to be friends with?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
(James 4:4 (NIV))

I just had a moment that I am still trying to comprehend and I am still waiting for the chills to go away! Every time that I think of the meaning of what i just realized, the chills come back and my eyes tear up out of sadness.

If you believe in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, you are a part of the church. The church is called the bride of Christ. We are set aside for Jesus. We are to be a spotless bride. James writes words proclaiming an adulterous people. Adultery is defined as sex between a married person and someone who is not that person’s wife or husband. It is the ultimate betrayal of the relationship between a husband and a wife and James uses this word, this concept, to tell people that they have committed the ultimate betrayal to Jesus. They have accepted the world and it’s sin over the love and grace found in Jesus. The sad thing about this is that, like many people caught in adultery, they didn’t think that they would be caught or that it would matter. They were reluctant to leave behind what they claim to have left. They looked back and were seduced by the memories of the things of this world.

Do you long for the things of this world, or do you long for what Jesus has come to offer to those who will simply accept?

Grace is free, but it came with a heavy price that we do not have to pay. I honestly believe that because we did not pay that price, many don’t truly understand exactly what grace means. Humanity looks at the world and says that it can’t be bad, while God looks at the world and say that it is all evil. If we turn back to the world, what does that make us?

Stop for a moment and think about a true friend. Would you turn your back on them? Would you completely abandon them? If we don’t turn our backs to the things of this world, we are proclaiming that we are friends of the world. If we are friends of the world, we automatically become an enemy of God, for God calls the fallen world evil and our association with it makes us evil.

Is this a friendship that you wish to keep?

Copyright 1998 – 2016 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Are you truly able to be humble?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
(James 4:10 (NIV))

Humility is a trait that is difficult for most people. To be honest with you, it is humility, or the lack of it, that caused Satan to rebel against God. It has been the proverbial thorn in the side of humanity ever since. To humble oneself requires a complete submission of yourself to the point where you are not proud, haughty, arrogant or assertive. In other words, to be humble means that you do not elevate yourself in words or deeds, but you simply live your life knowing that you are no better than other people.

Think about that concept in the light of the truth it contains.

God created all of us through the creation of Adam and Eve in the Garden. When Adam and Eve fell from grace, not a single one of us, their descendants, was spared from the consequences of that fall. We are all sinners. In the eyes of God, because of our sin, we are all the same. We are all equal. God loves each of us the same, yet, it is human nature to think that God loves us more than the next guy.

Can you look at yourself in the mirror and say that you think you are better than anyone else, or do you feel that nagging twinge of guilt when you honestly look deep inside?

I have asked this question before, and I will ask it again. What would your reaction be if, when you get to heaven, you find that Adolf Hitler had accepted Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior? Would you rejoice, or would you refuse to enter because you know that you were better than him? Would your reaction be evidence of humility?

I want you to take a look at this passage from the point of view of the person who most scholars believe wrote it: James, the brother of Jesus. How would you react to the crowds gathering around your brother and ignoring you? How would you react to the miracles that Jesus performed when you can’t even begin to do anything like them? How would you react to the crucifixion? How would you react to the resurrection? Would there be feelings of hatred? Would there be a crushed ego? Would there be guilt and shame, and would there be rejoicing? I find it interesting that the passage that instructs us to humble ourselves was written by someone who, from a worldly point of view, would have had to struggle to actually do that.

Copyright 1998 – 2016 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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