If you’re squeamish about a little PG-13 spiritual honesty, you might want to bail now. James didn’t exactly specialize in soft landings. He called things what they were, with no euphemisms and no polite throat-clearing. And he certainly wasn’t afraid of hurting feelings if it meant waking people up.
Case in point: this line probably stung like a slap in the face, and James knew it would:
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God (James 4:4).
We’ve heard that verse so many times that the sharp edges can feel dulled, but don’t let familiarity sand it down. James is not being metaphorical or poetic here. He’s leveling a blunt accusation.
You’re cheating on God.
That’s his accusation. God’s people were in a covenant marriage with him, but their hearts were wandering. They were slipping out the back door to meet another lover, the world. It’s shocking, but it’s the exact picture the Bible repeatedly paints. Israel didn’t just “struggle.” She “slept around” with idols, chasing every attractive substitute god she could find.
James is saying the same temptation is alive and well in his readers and in us. We don’t bow before Baal statues, but we chase comfort, status, money, politics, entertainment, and security with the same intensity Israel once chased pagan gods. It’s the same old affair, just with modern lovers.
And this should sober us, because it means the danger isn’t theoretical. Spiritual adultery has been humanity’s default setting from the beginning. Every day some-thing else tries to seduce our loyalty.
So how’s your faithfulness? Where does your affection actually settle during the week? Is it crystal clear, to you and to God, who you love most?
James ends with the line that ought to make us sit up straight: “whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” That’s not a label I ever want attached to my name. Honestly, is there anything more terrifying than being described as God’s enemy?
So let’s give this the weight it deserves. Let’s ask him to steel our resolve, to dull the world’s pull, and to keep us from drifting into the arms of something that can never love us back.
Because cheating on God isn’t just sinful. It’s irrational. Why trade the only faithful Lover you will ever have for something that won’t even last? —Chuck
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