Day 324
Ezekiel 38:1-39:29, James 4:1-17, Proverbs 28:7-17
How many friends have you got? No, I mean real friends, not Facebook friends. And while we are on the subject of friends, what is a friend to you, a real friend?
This passage from James seems quite difficult, it seems to indicate that we can’t be friends with the world and with God, seemingly we should lock ourselves away in the church, no friendship with the world at all. It doesn’t seem compatible with other parts of the scripture and with the idea of spreading the Gospel.
This has a very modern sense of friendship which appears to be disposable, an understanding of friendship that actually consigns us to a numerical list of people who we hardly ever have contact with. The friendship that James is talking about is an understanding of friendship in the Greek world that is much deeper and closer. To be a friend with someone is to share a spirituality to be as close as possible to them. Friendship in that contest is what we might call “best friendship”, for them there was no point in friendship unless it was going to be “best friends”.
So James is saying that you can’t align yourself spiritually with the world and with God. We can be a Facebook friend with the world but we need to be best friends with God. We need to submit ourselves to God as the title for the passage says. Who are you friends with?
How many friends have you got? No, I mean real friends, not Facebook friends. And while we are on the subject of friends, what is a friend to you, a real friend?This passage from James seems quite difficult, it seems to indicate that we can’t be friends with the world and with God, seemingly we should lock ourselves away in the church, no friendship with the world at all. It doesn’t seem compatible with other parts of the scripture and with the idea of spreading the Gospel.
This has a very modern sense of friendship which appears to be disposable, an understanding of friendship that actually consigns us to a numerical list of people who we hardly ever have contact with. The friendship that James is talking about is an understanding of friendship in the Greek world that is much deeper and closer. To be a friend with someone is to share a spirituality to be as close as possible to them. Friendship in that contest is what we might call “best friendship”, for them there was no point in friendship unless it was going to be “best friends”.
So James is saying that you can’t align yourself spiritually with the world and with God. We can be a Facebook friend with the world but we need to be best friends with God. We need to submit ourselves to God as the title for the passage says. Who are you friends with?
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