Our Love Affair with the World

“You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?  Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”  James 4:4 (NIV)

This is the church in America. We love the world and all its toys.  But let’s get personal. What consumes the majority of our time?  Is it reading and studying God’s Word? Are we ministering to the widows and orphans?  Are we caring for the needy, setting the oppressed free?  Are we showing love and compassion to a hurting world?

God doesn’t want us isolated from the world—He wants us to be in it, but not defined by it.  Is our allegiance to God or to our own selfish desires?  Would we skip church to attend a sporting event? Do we waste time doing mindless things on the computer?  Are we caught up with having the latest toys and gadgets that are so prized by the world?  I confess to you that these questions are convicting to me.  It’s easy to get caught up in the attractions of this world, but when we do, we are investing our time and money in something that is perishable—it will have no lasting effect on anyone. And, it is seductive. We cannot play around with it—it leads to adultery.  God takes it seriously, and so should we.