Daily Bible Reading – 9.30.2021
James 4:4-5, 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?
I cannot imagine addressing our congregation as, “You adulterous people!” I imagine it would be the last time I did so!
James used Old Testament imagery as he compared God’s people to God’s bride. As the prophets often did, James knows something is happening among his audience and rebuked them for their spiritual unfaithfulness to Christ.
This passage is included with the previous passage on temptation as a further demonstration of where our sinful desires can lead if we are not vigilant. We switch loyalties and become friends with the world.
The world of which he speaks is not the world of creation. It is not even the world in which we, necessarily, live our lives each day. The world James speaks of is the realm of darkness that infiltrates individuals, relationships, and structures where God is not worshiped and His Word is not followed.
Sadly, some Christ-followers had become friendly with this dark world and its ungodly ways. James points out it is no small matter to buddy up with sin because you make yourself an enemy of God. It was so important for them to understand what they were doing that James repeated himself.
James tells us this is so because God jealously wants you all for Himself. He wants your spirit. He wants the deepest part of you. If He has your spirit, He has you. This demonstrates God’s intense love for you. He refuses to share you and demands your total devotion to be with Him alone.
Question to Consider:
How does it encourage you to be a faithful follower to know that God loves you so much that He jealously watches over you and wants you all to Himself?
Weekly Memory Verse:
James 4:7, Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.