You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
What makes a friend? Usually, it is someone invest in, someone we confide in, and someone that we trust. We know we are called to be friends of God, but are we also living as friends of world? Many of us want to be right with God, but we also want to pursue a comfortable, pleasurable life in the world. Following Jesus is a life of complete devotion. When we pursue the things of the world, we show that we are not truly friends with God and that we don’t really trust His Word when He speaks about the snares of sin or the life of surrender He has called us to live. When we pursue ambitions of the world, we show that we don’t believe God’s way is the best way to live.
When we consider pouring into the next generation and preparing them to go out as adults, we need to consider what friendship we are modeling for them. Are we showing them what it looks like to trust God? To speak with Him in prayer? To submit our time and money to Him? Is He our closest friend when life is challenging? There are a lot of things we can teach with words, in a small group, through one-on-one conversation, or a Sunday school lesson, but friendship with God is also made evident by our lives. It is this friendship that displays the Savior as near the broken-hearted and leads us into abundant life in Him.
- How is your relationship with God right now? How are you investing in your friendship with Him?
- What are ways you are pursuing friendship with the world? What has happened when you have done so?
- Pray and surrender your pursuits to God.
