Can you remember back to your dating years? Did you ever date someone who said with their mouth that they still loved you, but their actions showed something quite different? They said one thing, but their actions contradicted their words. In your heart, you knew this. Even though you’d try to talk yourself into not believing what you knew to be true.
We’ve all heard the saying that “actions speak louder than words”. And this is true. What we believe to be true will be shown by our choices and decisions. Anyone can say anything. Anyone can profess to believe anything. The truth of their words is evidenced by their actions.
If this is true in a human dating relationship, how much more true must this be when we are examining our relationship with God. There are quite a few things scripture says will evidence true faith. Such as loving God and obeying His commands; loving others; loving the Word of God; living in the Spirit and producing good spiritual fruit; and others. None of us will do these perfectly (of course!) but we will be seeking to live this life described in scripture if we have been saved from our sin and are God’s redeemed child.
I’ve been thinking a lot these past few weeks about one very specific evidence the Bible gives of a true believer–
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)
We do not get to be friends with God AND with the world. We have to choose. And, although we may not have made an intentional choice, our choice is made clear by our actions.
Do I choose God or do I choose the world?
The world, with its glittery temptations and its promise of acclaim and popularity, looks so appealing. Its entertainment; its trends and fads; its philosophies on life (marriage, parenting, careers, wealth, church, etc); its advice and counsel; its theories on the origin of the world or regarding the value of life–all of these things are generally in direct contradiction to God and His Word.
If we love God, we should at least be asking the question, right? Will this choice move me toward God or away from God? Will this prove my friendship with God or will it give evidence that I love the world more?
Because we are one or the other: A friend of God or a friend of the world. Because the Bible says we can’t be both.
The thing is this…
Our flesh loves the world. And so, while it seems cut and dried, it’s just not as cut and dried as we’d like, is it? We struggle with our desires and sometimes we give in to the temptation.
So how do we know that we have chosen God over the world?
I believe it is in the awareness that there is a battle raging to win our hearts to the world and away from God. A genuine believer is aware of this battle and is seeking to be God’s friend rather than the world’s. They want to avoid being God’s enemy at all costs.
It’s because we know that loving the world not only proves we aren’t really God’s but it also functions as poison, hardening our consciences and killing any holiness that is growing in us.
My brother, Pastor Dean Good, gives a helpful analogy (listen to him explain it here). He explains that holiness is like a banana plant. We can’t manufacture it by following instructions. It comes through a life that is being transformed by Jesus Christ. And as that plant grows, we have the opportunity to grow it or to crush it. Worldliness crushes that plant. It pours poison on that tender plant that is growing towards Christ.
So worldliness for the true believer stymies our growth and hinders our holiness. As believers, we really need to be aware of this and be evaluating our lives constantly for how our love for the world is seeping into our lives through all avenues.
But a love for the world can also function as a barometer that we can use to test if we are truly saved. If we say we love God but we are still filled with the love of the world and have no interest in giving up what we love in order to please God, we should rightly examine our hearts.
(Parenthetically…If you are worried about your salvation, I want to encourage you to study your Bible to understand what true Christianity is and to get to know the real Jesus. The fake version with its counterfeit Jesus has led to so many false conversions and given assurance of salvation where there should be none. Jesus will never leave or forsake His own, but it is critical we determine our eternal status based on God’s Word and not on what modern day Christianity is telling us.)
We cannot be friends with the world and with God. We will either love one or the other. It’s not a popular concept these days but the Bible could not possibly make it any clearer.
I am thankful for God’s grace in this area. And I offer much grace to you, my reader, as you seek the Lord in this area of your life. So often, we can see some spiritual truth, while completely missing another one. I know how blinded I was for so long in some areas of worldliness. I recognize that I am still so blind in other areas.
The key is not to be looking around at others but to be examining our own lives, praying that God will open our eyes to how we have succumbed to our desire to be friends with the world. And then being willing to surrender that which we know is pouring poison on our plant of holiness.
And so this choice to love God or to love the world should not be made lightly. We must consider the cost. For to love the world causes great damage to the believer, even when they are aware of the battle and fighting against it. But to love the world and not even be aware of the raging battle indicates a real problem in the life of someone who claims to be saved. Because the Bible says that being a friend of the world means that we are the enemy of God.
Words not to be taken lightly. And a choice not to be made lightly.
Amen!