The Litmus Test weblog

Enemies of God

So who are His enemies? They are those who claim to be His friends, but do not obey His commandments. They claim to love Him, and even to love one another, but the lion’s share of their time and energy is consumed in making a comfortable life for themselves in this world.

Remember, what the Bible calls “love” is not a feeling. It is the direction of your will towards the object of your love. Your love is measured by what captures your attention, by what you take delight in, and by where you spend your time, money, and energy. That is the fact of the matter, regardless of how you feel.

Whom or what do you love? What is the direction of your will?

Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15)

What is the world? What are the things of the world?

For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:16-17)

There are the obvious things — television, movies, sports, luxuries, lust, pursuit of wealth and power. But these are merely the outward manifestations of living for one’s self. That is the root of the problem. You must hate your life in this world. Until you reach that point, you remain a friend of the world and an enemy of God.

If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:26)

Love versus Hate

Just as “love” in the Gospels is not merely a feeling of good will or affection towards someone or something, neither is “hate” a feeling of animosity or malice. When the Master called His disciples to follow Him, He was demanding nothing less than a 180° turn in the direction of their will. That is what it means to repent, to hate one’s life in this world, and to begin serving Him where He is.

Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him. (Matthew 4:21-22)

Until that day all their time and energy had gone into making a living with their father, and suddenly the direction of their will changed and all their time and energy went into serving their new Master. Their father might well have taken their newfound love for this Messiah as hatred towards himself, but they could not serve two masters.[19] They had to forsake the gods of making their own living and pleasing their parents in order to follow Messiah.

It was the same with all of the disciples, as Peter declared, “See, we have left all and followed You!” The Master’s reply to Peter reveals the result of this redirection of the will, the result of hating one’s life in this world in order to love and obey Him:

So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time — houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions — and in the age to come, eternal life.” (Mark 10:29-30)

The result is the common life described in Acts 2 and 4 (quoted previously), the community of those who were redeemed from their lonely, futile existence in the world, and given the full-time occupation of loving one another just as He loved them. In place of whatever they left behind they would receive a hundredfold new brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, children, houses and farms — along with persecution from those who love this world and hate the true message of the gospel and the abundant life it produces.

More Here…