TUESDAY January 21, 2020
The Love of the World
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 4:4
Listen once again to the Apostle James warning Christians not to become a friend of the world––to do so would make us an enemy of God. We cannot be a friend of the world and God. The Apostle John exhorted believers not to love the world and explained the reasons why we resist its influence:
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:15-17).
Understand, Christians have three enemies: the world, the flesh and Satan. If we allow the world, the flesh and the devil room in our lives, they will irritate and infect us. They will try to defeat us! Believers in Christ will have to face these enemies daily because they are constantly present before us. Never relax or be at ease against these enemies. If a Christian becomes lax in the battle against the world, the flesh and Satan, they will usually backslide. We need to be watching out for them and continually resisting them until the day we die.
The flesh is so strong and consuming. I believe the flesh is more of an irritant. Paul knew the problems he faced because of his flesh. That is why he wrote Romans 5-8; it spoke of reckoning the old man––the person you were before Christ––to be counted as dead. Believers must learn to use their spiritual weapons and fight the good fight (Ephesians 6).
Enemy-occupied territory — that is what the world is.
~C.S. Lewis~
For more from Raul Ries, please visit SomebodyLovesYou.com!