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I am using readings from the 49 Week Bible Challenge as the basis for these devotions. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are James 4:1-8; Jeremiah 3; Hosea 3; Zechariah 1.
James 4:1-8
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 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. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
I’ve had my share of friends. Some of them have been very good – supportive of God’s ways and values. Some have not had the same positive effect. Sadly, some tempted me to turn aside from God’s ways. Obviously I pray that my impact in people’s lives was to turn people toward God. But the ways of the world are not always obvious, evil, or blatant.
Satan is the accuser and father of the lie. He seeks to steal, kill, and destroy. Sometimes his attack is blatant and head-on. Take it! You won’t get caught! Other times he is far more subtle. You’re being wronged. You need to get revenge. You need to claim your rights. Don’t let them push you around.
Often, moreover, our sinful flesh plays right along with his ploys. We get angry, lose our temper, and lash out at those we love. We are caught in a low moment and give in to cravings that will never fill the soul, but provide brief respite. We think we’ve got it coming and do whatever is necessary to get our way.
James warns us against that in no uncertain terms. “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 must all admit that we have fallen prey to his schemes.
Thankfully God loves sinners, and is constantly calling us back to himself. That is exactly what James is doing here. “Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, ‘He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us’? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’” (James 4:5-6).
If you’ve made the wrong kind of friends, heed God’s call to return to him and embrace his grace, and delight in his love for you. He has given us life, and filled us with his Holy Spirit. He desires that we remain faithful to him and experience the fullness of his grace in Jesus Christ. Jesus is our truest friend.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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