James 4:3-5 "When
you ask, you do not receive, because you ask
with wrong motives, that you may spend what you
get on your pleasures. 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?"
Yikes! Talking about a hard
word! When I read the first line of this set of verses; at first, I get this
sinking feeling in my stomach - like, 'oh man, this is gonna hurt'.
Why is it so easy to see the world and its desires as a
friend that we can converse with, wrap our arms around, walk with, etc.? Well,
the scripture does say that our flesh wars against the spirit of Jesus that is
within us (Galatians 5:16-17). That's the pull, THAT'S the war the enemy wants
to win... to pull us away from God by showing us how 'beautiful' and 'pleasant'
the world can be... that the fleshly desires within us drive us to embrace the
world. But that's not how it works. James 1 says each one is tempted when
they are dragged away by their own evil
desire and then once desire is conceived it gives birth to sin, and when
it is full-grown it gives birth to death. The enemy sits there with a fishing
pole and baits the hook with whatever our own personal desire is (what are we
drawn to that draws us away from the Lord?). It stirs our desire for 'the bait'
(at this point is when we should yell, HELP ME JESUS). But most of the time, at
least for me, I'm drawn to the bait as the enemy is slowing reeling it in I
follow and then when the demon gets me close enough to touch it stops reeling
and then I bite. Now what is really insane is that when we bite the bait - we
do so most of the time knowing that
there is a hook there. The enemy is a deceiver, but it's our own flesh
that has effectively now created a barrier between our spirit and the Lord.
So, if friendship with the world
brings a barrier between us and God, then it seems logical to me that friendship
with Jesus (as a friend that we can converse with, wrap our arms around, walk
with, etc.) brings a barrier between us and the world. The point today is our
hearts need to come to the point of longing for Jesus more than we long for the
lusts of our flesh. When we walk with Him and He shows us how BEAUTIFUL He is and how PLEASANT He is - that we would be drawn
to Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. That He would not only be
our friend, but our BFF - Best Friend FOREVER.
My Soul Longs For You - Misty Edwards
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