James 4:4

I'm getting back into the Word after an absence of "some time" with a planned study on the book of James. This is one of my favorite books and I'm quite familiar with it. Even so, I'm struck - as I always am - by the freshness of the content. The Bible never gets old.

So it should never come as a surprise when I read a familiar verse and it speaks to me with a new voice.

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.

Adulterers and adulteresses; that is pretty plain language. Friendship with the world (6) is faithlessness to God.

In practical terms, what does it mean to be a friend to the world? I suppose Christians will decide for themselves, but I think a few areas that deserve consideration are entertainment (movies, music), books, language and dress.

He'll Take Me Back

And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry. ~Luke 15:20-24

It's good to know that no matter how often or how studiously we neglect our Heavenly Father, we can be confident that He's patiently waiting for us to remember how much we need Him.

My memory has been jogged.

While I haven't really turned my back on God, I haven't been giving him the attention He deserves. I've been without a church home for over five years now and the time I've been spending in His Word is, to put it kindly, sketchy.

So I'm running home, again, it seems, confident of His response.