Meditating on James 4:4 transformed my perception of my profession of faith.

In the initial verses, James starts by comparing the merely partial loyalty of the professed children of God to an act of adultery. The apostle categorizes friendship with the world as animosity against God. It is interesting how throughout the Bible there is a recurring analogy of the relationship between a husband and wife in order to depict our relationship to our Lord. And when we compare our human relationships, we are able to fathom the enormity of our sin when we refuse to surrender all—thus maintaining ties with the world.

“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).

Let us consider the following scenario. Imagine that you are married or courting. Both parties understand that the relationship demands loyalty and fidelity to each other. However, after marriage, one of you decides to maintain a friendship with the opposite sex. Perhaps it’s a friendship through social media that involves occasional chatting and reminiscing of old times. And while you are still married, this friendship hinders you from 100% dedication to your spouse, possibly chiseling away at the sacred bond of communication so vital for your pledged commitment to function and truly flourish as it should.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (Verse 7).

Now imagine that the friend you have maintained is an insistent one, eager to rob your attention by novelties and by apparently innocent seductions. One compromise here, another one there. And soon you find yourself compromising everything, until one day you realize you have betrayed your husband/wife and you didn’t realize it until now. You know in your heart that it is a great offense to your husband/wife for you to be maintaining this. Therefore, realizing that if done to you, it would wound your heart. But the very and only solution is to resist the outside friendship, make a decided decision, and the “friend” will flee from you.

As in earthly relationships, our allegiance to God can only be defined when both parties commit to such. The word of the Lord clearly states,“We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).Therefore, God’s love to us is a given; His fidelity and promises to us are sure, and He changes not (Malachi 3:6). We need to remember that God is not emotionally unstable as we are as human beings. We are bidden to be loyal to our vows even to our own disadvantage, as He describes the one to abide in His tabernacle and stand in His holy hill as being “he that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not” (Psalm 15:4). God set the example for this as He was willing to give His only begotten Son to die the agonizing death on the cross in our stead. He poured out His soul into death; now the final decision to accept so great salvation remains up to us.

“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded” (James 4:8). “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Do we see ourselves depicted in this analogy? Committing adultery against God by maintaining friendship with the world—the king of this world? How many times have we sat in the pews, participated in church programs, preached, knocked on doors, and lacked love—availing to nothing?

In 1 Corinthians 13, it is interesting to note the very core of God’s love and character. This inspired chapter depicts God’s love as one that transcends the gift of prophecy, mysteries, charities, faith, and even martyrdom when the nucleus of such actions is not love. Yet it begins by stating that love suffers long. In the previous characteristics mentioned, all had an ending; prophecies had an ending and so did charities. It then states the negatives—of what love is not.

What then is love? What my finite mind could grasp was the perception that love is a state of being; it is unchangeable because it’s God’s character. The death of God’s only-begotten Son for humanity was not confined to the cross. Jesus was eternally pledged and became our Elder Brother. This is God’s love, as we can faintly fathom it. A state of permanence.

We are bidden in this final hour of earth’s history to “be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:9, 10).

During the day of atonement—performed once a year—the priest would enter the most holy place in order to cleanse the sanctuary from the year of morning and evening sacrifices, which were sprinkled on the veil thereof. Throughout the year—every morning and evening—the people of God would come to offer sacrifices to atone for their sins during the course of the day. Then, by the end of the year, the veil would be heavily stained with the blood of the animals and had to be cleansed. Yet, before this could be done, all the sins of the people had to be repented of.

On that day, two goats would be taken to the door of the tabernacle where lots would be cast on them. This enabled them to separate one goat for the final atoning of the people’s sins and the other goat, known as the scapegoat, was led to die in the wilderness where it would bear the sins of the people. Consequently, the blood of the goat was to be sprinkled on the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant beyond the veil. However, while these rituals were being performed, businesses were closed and all the people fasted and prayed while humbling and searching their hearts for unconfessed sins.

“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17).

The message of 1844—from when we first understood the time of the investigative judgment—is no longer new to us. The novelty of this discovery may have worn off, but does that make the reality any less vivid and real? “Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Romans 13:11). Can we conceive of even a faint perception of the work that is being done at this very moment in the heavenly sanctuary? As you read this, you may be unaware of whether your case might be withdrawn from the file and ready for review. But God in His great mercy toward us, still insists on graciously knocking at the door of our hearts.

As we are reminded yet again to search our souls, we ask the same question that the disciples asked before partaking of the Holy Supper, as they inquired with contrition, “Lord, is it I?” (Matthew 26:22). During this time, Judas was about to commit spiritual adultery against Jesus—so to speak—by betraying his Lord. And as Jesus revealed this to His disciples, they began to search their hearts and became “exceeding sorrowful” each as if they were the one.

In Psalm 51, we have one of the most heartfelt and yet systematic prayers, which portrays the steps toward genuine repentance and its outcome.

“Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee” (Psalm 51:13).

After recognizing his sin and asking for a transformation of heart, king David realizes that after that experience, he becomes a missionary by stating that only then will he be able to teach sinners God’s ways.

When we are able to fathom the urgency of our preparation it becomes apparently impossible to offer a halfhearted and adulterated service to our God. We all have a work to do in His vineyard. Though a small mite it may be, we all have a work to do.

Let us therefore begin by asking the question: “Lord, is it I?” Indeed, it truly is time to search our hearts as never before.

“A season of great trial is before us. It becomes us now to use all our capabilities and gifts in advancing the work of God. The powers the Lord has given us are to be used to build up, not to discourage and to tear down. . . . He will purify His church even as He purified the temple at the beginning and close of His ministry on earth. All that He brings upon the church in test and trial comes that His people may gain deeper piety and more strength to carry the triumphs of the cross to all parts of the world. He has a work for all to do.”1