20 Apr Study Guide | James Week 9

Throughout our study in James’ letter to the early church, we have seen a constant reminder of our fickle, double-minded nature. While God is true, steadfast, and enduring in his devotion to us, we are easily led astray by our sinful desires to pursue those desires and the love of this world. When we forget God and give other people or things a greater position of honor in our hearts, the Bible says we are committing spiritual infidelity. It’s the equivalent of telling God we aren’t content with our relationship with him and will seek fulfillment elsewhere. That is what James is talking about when he brings up the issue of friendship with the world and what that means for our relationship with God. But, as we will see, God will ultimately not tolerate our love for the world and its things. He yearns jealously for our spirit because he created us and adopted us out of our lost spiritual state in order to be his people and worship him with an undivided devotion.