“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.” (James 4:4)
Being the friend of one person may automatically make you the enemy of someone else. If you want to be God’s friend, you must break with the fallen world that is under control of God’s enemy Satan. And that’s not easy, since “the world” resonates with the sinful desires that are still popping up regularly in our own hearts. All too often, we give in to the desire or the pressure to sin. As the apostle Paul exclaims: “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” (Romans 7:19-20)
This continuous struggle is hard, but we should not give in. God will forgive us our sins if we confess them, and we should keep fighting and growing in holiness. If we resist the devil in God’s power, he will flee from us.
It is tempting to believe that we can have eternal life with God while following our sinful passions. But the Bible is clear
here: being a friend of the world makes us an enemy of God.
So, whose friend are you?