James 2:23 … Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
James tells us that Abraham believed God, and was called God’s friend. He then tells us that to be a friend of the world is equivalent to being an enemy of God (James 4:4). Thus, one is confronted with the realization that I cannot claim to be a friend of God if my lifestyle and value system reflects a fondness for this fallen world system. It is not what I say, per se, that counts, but how I live that indicates the overflow of my heart. Paul wrote to the Romans that “the carnal mind is enmity against God” (8:7). The word enmity means opposed to. It is a mind that expresses ill will or a fixed root of opposition.
Once again let me repeat that it is very easy for a person to “mouth” being a friend of God, but the only way to determine the truth of that statement is by a measurable amount of fruit in my life that reflects that my fellowship and friendship with Christ is genuine. A good tree will bring forth good fruit. Just like an orange field will give off a sweet fragrance of oranges, a friend of Jesus will project a sweet savor of Jesus Christ. Every day you and I deal with situations in life that will reflect whose friend we are at any given moment. Those situations may be relational, financial, etc., but every day our response to life’s situations will reflect a friendship with Jesus or with the world.
May The Holy Spirit so thoroughly continue to change and transform our hearts and minds that it would be obvious to people, friend or foe, family or stranger, by our attitudes, conversations, and actions that we truly are friends of God. Selah
