Day 2671 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

James 4:4 NIV

We've been discussing the monumental differences between God's definition of love and this world's far inferior version. This place has made a hobby of redefining everything in order to ensure everything fits their own personal interests and agendas. Self is now king, feelings are more important than reality, truth is shunned, and anyone who goes against this new way of living and thinking and speaking is to be attacked and silenced so that they don't cause any uproar with their attempt to cut through the nonsense and maybe help people see the dangers caused by living like the world chooses to live.

The issue is that so many people are far too worried about being a friend of this world. They're willing to sell their souls to gain social acceptance. They're willing to trade eternal peace for worldly popularity. They're willing to say whatever they need to say to please the ears of people who can only stomach hearing what they want to hear in order to gain comfort through feeling like they fit and that they're liked in this place. They're perfectly okay with something temporary because as of right now, the temporary is all their hardened hearts can imagine.

I think that's honestly a big issue for many. They just can't seem to grasp this idea that there's something bigger to be had in life. They can't see beyond the here and now. They can't imagine the possibility of a God who created us and loves us and has this magnificent reward in a place called Heaven that has pearly gates and golden streets and an eternity of peace and joy. All they see is today. All they worry about is tomorrow. All they want is to feel loved and accepted and to feel like people like them. I guess it's just because if they think these lives are all there is, then they just want to live them as comfortably as possible.

However as Christians, we should know better. And because we know better, we should live better. We should love better. We should be bold enough to stand up, speak the truth, say what people NEED to hear, and love them like Jesus does. That's what we've been talking about lately, and I don't know why, but it's something that I never knew I was always pretty passionate about. I see so many people being lied to and coddled and told how great they're doing. I see people celebrating all that's wicked and evil and reeling others into their satan games like there's nothing wrong in living a life of sin. I see people blindly joining group and repeating catchphrases and adopting ideas all in this attempt to feel like they belong to something.

But the problem is that what they belong to is something that literally hates them. They’re willing to be used if it means they get some attention. They’re willing to go along with things that may not feel right just because it makes them feel like they have some friends around. They’re choosing to follow these paths that most people are following under this hope that they’ll manage to fit in and feel welcomed, even if it means loosening their grip on what they know to be right because what’s right is just always going to be far less popular and bring far less praise.

Friends, we have to break away from doing as the world does and do as we're called to do instead. Trying to build friendship with this world has requirements that we cannot meet if we're truly following Christ. To be this world's friend, we have to do what they do, say what they say, believe in what they believe in, ignore what they ignore, and do whatever else they tell us to do to keep them happily ignorant in their comfy lives of wickedness. People only like those who are like them, and well, that's where we have to make a choice with the understanding that there are consequences either way.

We can either try to make the world love us and gain all the friends and feelings of worldly love and approval that we could ever hope to find. But doing so will require us to let go of God and His way and His path and His calling. It will require us to turn off the path that Christ calls us to follow as we simply cannot do what He asks us to do and what the world wants from us at the same time. They couldn't be more different. This world is under the control of the evil one, and that is something that won't change until Christ returns. So for us to be friends with the world, well, we're going to have to change who and what we serve.

Or, we can take the harder path of following God in a place that won't and speaking His truth that most people don't want to hear. We can take up our cross in this life and understand that following Christ will bring many things similar to what He endured here. We will be hated, persecuted, called names, cast out, ignored, judged, excluded, harassed, and maybe even beaten and killed. All because we're choosing to scorn what the world wants and give our lives over to something better than the world can imagine. But His path is the only one that leads to eternal peace.

So there's the options, we just have to pick. Love the world and be loved by the world, even if it means letting go of God and replacing His truth with this other nonsense that humans feel they have the right to come up with in order to serve themselves. Or love God and be hated for it. As this verse is telling us, friendship with the world means being separated from God. This place is running from Him and His ways and His truth. And if we're going to live to please the world in order to gain approval and acceptance, then we're going to have to run that same direction ourselves.

Sadly, that's the path of least resistance, and therefore it’s the path that many will choose. People who say and do what's popular and go with the flow and speak all these comfy lies that people want to hear are loved by the masses. They're going to have a very easy life filled with all sorts of glory and praise and popularity and fame. But what they'll lose in order to gain those worldly things is more costly than they know. So please don't go that route. Don't trade God for the world. Don't trade a relationship with Christ for the love of a place that only loves what's evil.

I know the allure of comfort and acceptance is paramount in this place. But this world and its ways are coming to an end someday. And if we spend our lives trying to please the world by being like the world, then we're going to miss out on building a relationship that leads to eternal peace. These lives may seem long, but eternity is exponentially longer. And while the world may think they're winning by being loved and lauded by those around them, personally, I don't think we're winning until we're hated in this place. Because in a world that loves sin and hates righteousness, we should be terrified of being loved!

#LeaveNoSoulUntold