Examine Yourself

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.

James 4:4

Are you still hanging onto the lifestyle you followed before you became a Christian? As today’s verse reveals, if you didn’t make a conscious effort to cut yourself off from this world when you came to Christ, you have reason to question whether your salvation was genuine.

First John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” When you become a Christian, your desire should be to cut yourself off from the world. Certainly the world will continue to tempt you from time to time, but you’re to forsake the devil’s evil system.

To say that a person can come to Christ without making a break from the world is a lie. There must be a change of lifestyle! It’s not an easy thing to do—Paul commanded us not to live as we did before we came to Christ (Eph 4:17). But we can live this life because we have a new nature.

MacArthur, J. (2001). Truth for today : A daily touch of God's grace (Page 175). Nashville, Tenn.: J. Countryman.

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