These are very strong words. I do not want to be an enemy of God because I know what God can do to His enemies, and I want to be on His blessing side, do you? James 4:4 explains how we can become an enemy of God;
You adulterous (unfaithful) 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.
Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?
Do you want to be an enemy of God?
We all know how adultery destroys a marriage. So adultery with the world destroys your relationship with God. Friendship with the world looks different for each of us. Nonetheless, friendship with the world is when you desire the pleasures of the world to please yourself more than you desire the presence of God and to please Him. To know if you are worldly-minded, pray and put off pride, humbly draw near to God, and ask Him to show you. Also, read Unseen Battle With The Secular World.
You can’t love the world, or the things of the world and love God as described in James 4:4. There is no middle ground; you are either humbly submitted to God or pridefully submitted to the world. You cannot stand firm in your faith if you continue to do the things of the world and think worldly thoughts. Galatians 5:17 states, “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for they are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” And, Romans 8:7-8, explains, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8) Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” The one thing that pleases God is faith. Hebrews 11:6 states, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
How does our faith please God?
By faith, we believe and seek first what God wants, just as a soldier believes in his commander and wants to do what pleases them. 2Timothy 2:4 states, “No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.” To be entangled means to twist together, so that disengagement is difficult. To avoid getting entangled we are to do what Jesus encourages us to in Matthew 6:33 “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” Seeking the kingdom of God is not easy as explained in Matthew 7:13-14 which says, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14) For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” As Christians, we are to be single-minded and focused on our pursuit to stay on the narrow path and please God. The world’s enticements lead you down the wide path to destruction. The Apostle John tells us in 1John 2:17, “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
What are the world’s enticements?
The world’s enticements most often come from the media. You must guard your mind against viewing, reading, and listening to media that glorify evil. The next two verses are good to pray and resolve to do. Psalms 119:37 states, “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things (vanity); and give me life in Your ways.” Something worthless is useless and without value. Vanity is having no real value or significance. Psalms 101:3-4 states, “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless (vile). I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me. 4) A perverse heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil.”
In the MKJV, it states, “I will set no wicked thing before my eyes. I have hated the work of those who turn aside; it shall not hold on to me. 4) A perverse heart will depart from me; I will not know the wicked.”
In the NAS, it states, “I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not fasten its grip on me. 4) A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil.”
Mark 12:30 states, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” If you love God this way, would you allow anything vile (evil; wicked; depraved; sinful; repulsive; disgusting) and perverse (not considered right or acceptable) to enter your mind? Do you love God to the point where you will know nothing of evil? Remember, evil is something morally wrong and wicked that causes pain or trouble. Evil is compared with death and good is compared with life in Deuteronomy 30:15, which states “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.” This tells me, I can choose life and good and not death and evil. Romans 12:19b states “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” Psalm 34:14, also states, “Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” 3John 1:11 states, “Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.” So, it makes sense that those who do evil have not seen God because God is good and when we invite Him into our hearts, we will naturally want to be good. Would you agree?
After reading Deuteronomy 30:15, I realize I need to choose life by choosing good things that benefit me and bring glory to God. When you allow worthless, vile, and evil things into your mind, it will stain your conscience and cause death by separating you from God, who gives life. James 1:27b says to “keep oneself unstained from the world.” All forms of ungodly media entice believers to conform to the world’s standards of deception, revenge, sexual immorality, hate, etc. I challenge you to make a mental note of the worldly messages you receive from video games, advertisements, TV shows (especially soap-operas), movies, or the internet. Do the messages glorify God? Do the messages entice you to glorify yourself? Or do the messages glorify the world’s standards of ungodliness?
Think for a moment. If the people creating the entertainment have not submitted their minds to God to bring Him glory, then their foolish, evil thoughts are directing their actions and creativity. Worldly entertainment deceives you into thinking that foolishness and evil are acceptable when the goal is to enslave you in sinful thoughts and actions. Ask yourself, is what I’m taking into my mind drawing me closer to God or drawing me closer to vain worldly thinking and sin?
Are you an enemy of God in your thinking and actions?
Do you seek and love God or do you seek and love the things of the world?
Is your focus on living by faith and pleasing God or would you rather have the pleasures of the world?
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