James 4:4 Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Yesterday, we discussed Acts 19:18-19 which says, And many who believed came, and confessed, and showed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: And they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.
Paul was preaching to the Church in Ephesus. These people were believers in Christ. They were not lost heathens. They were Christians who were living double lives. One foot in the world and one foot in the Kingdom of God.
Jesus’ brother, James, wrote on this subject. He began his Epistle with this because to him it was of utmost importance. He referred to people like this as double-minded. …..he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. The fact is, we must choose the world or the Kingdom of God. We cannot live in both simultaneously because life in the world has nothing to do with faith or Righteousness. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are called to Walk by faith and not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7) and seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness. (Matthew 6:33)
I also want to direct our attention to the last sentence in Acts 19:19. And they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. The people who brought all the witchcraft paraphernalia and burned it up added up the cost of those items. It totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver! This would be equivalent to approximately four million dollars today!
The point is that believers in those days spent a tremendous amount of money on things of this world. Unfortunately, believers still do today. Consider how much good could have been done for the Church with fifty pieces of silver in Paul’s time. Now consider how much can be done for the Kingdom of God with all the money that is spent on foolish things of this world today.
Jesus’ brother, James, was a straightforward, dogmatic man. He told it how it was and he didn’t beat around the bush. He put it like this. Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:1-4)
My friends, there is no difference today. God looks at our hearts. He considers our motives and our priorities. Let us do the same. Who is first in your life? What is most important? Where do you spend the majority of your time and money?
I ask you to take these questions seriously and seek the guidance and leading of the Holy Spirit. He will direct you and convict your heart of the things that need to be changed in your life. It will be to your advantage to act accordingly because we don’t want God to view us as double-minded or His enemy.
He gave His all for us. Let us put Him and His Kingdom first in our lives. We love Him because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19)
Put Him first and He will……...….turn the tide……..in your world.
I love Him because He first loved me. Doreen
www.bettsministries.org
