Corona Devo 1977

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. (5) Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? (6) But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”  

~~~

It's like walking a tight rope if you ask me.  

Living in the world, relating and connecting with people...and yet living for the Lord, and relating and connecting and abiding in Him.  

We can't do both, and yet we must.  We are called to minister to the world and we are also called to know and love our Lord.  It's like walking a tight rope if you ask me.  

And there are times when we straddle the secular and the spiritual...and we influence.  We make a difference or an impact in the name of Christ, and because we were a "friend of the world"--we were able to shine God's life-changing light and hope into the world.  

The other day, we met two non-believers, and during the course of our visit, we said "Grace" with them before a meal.  And as they explained the "good fortune" they had enjoyed in their careers and lives, we gently pointed out God's dominion and good plan over them. 

We shared the love of Christ with them in a tangible way...and they felt loved.  I know that they did, because I felt it too.    

This is an example of being a friend of God and befriending the world.  It's a good balance on the tightrope of faith.

But there are other times (Can I get an "Amen"?) when we straddle the secular and the spiritual, and we are influenced by the world, instead of us influencing the world.  WE get tainted by the taste and touch and trends of the world, and of sin.  And instead of being a friend to God, we become a friend of the world.  

I've spent time in God-less conversation and sometimes just listening to things that are not of the Lord, and that poison my mind, thoughts and thinking.  There are times that we join in viewing/reading/lending-ourselves to things that are inappropriate or immoral, and in order to fit in, we fall to becoming a friend of the world.  

But God reminds us through His Word today that when we are a friend of the world, we become an enemy of God.   

It's like walking a tight rope if you ask me. 

God knows both sides of it.  And God knows both sides of us.  

But the Lord always encourages us to turn to Him.  Or to turn back to Him.  

Even if we have lost our balance on life's tightrope, and even if we have fallen right off, the Lord calls us back to Him, and He tells us how to get back up and how to stay balanced on His spiritual tightrope today.  

God is direct, but He is clear.  The balance between being a friend of the world and a friend of God carries a narrow margin, but it is possible, and the Bible gives us the no-nonsense steps to achieve it. 

Submit yourselves, then, to God. 

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 

(8) Come near to God and he will come near to you. 

Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

(9) Grieve, mourn and wail. 

Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 

(10) Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.  ~James 4:7-10 

Humility and active-acknowledgement (and honoring) of the Lord are the keys to staying balanced on the tightrope walk of faith.

Influence others for Christ today.  And let's guard our hearts and minds from being influenced by the world.  

We don't want to be a friend of the world.  The trends, treasures, and glitter of this world will all fade away, but our God will live forever.  He sees us on the tightrope, and He is near.  Come near to Him today.

For this is what the high and exalted One says—he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite... 

(18) I have seen their ways, but I will heal them; I will guide them and restore comfort to Israel’s mourners, (19) creating praise on their lips.  Peace, peace, to those far and near,” says the Lord. “And I will heal them.”  ~Isaiah 57:15, 18-19

God directs and steadies us on the spiritual tightrope of life, and He even picks us back up when we fall off.  

~~~

Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God

It's like walking a tight rope if you ask me.  But we do not walk it alone.


Blessings, 

Sarah 

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com 

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