No Christian is a sinner and no sinner is a Christian. So many in churches today don’t know the difference between a sinner and a Christian as the world has entered the church and the church has gone into the world. Many are yet willing to separate themselves from the world because of its temporal gains. These Christians think that as long as you go to church, you are a child of God. This is why they make friends with everybody and probably anybody they meet in the name of Christian Brother or Sister. God wants us to love all around us but separate ourselves from the world for His use; there is a great difference between friendship and love. Jesus in our text answered the expected -to -tempt question of the lawyer by saying, “Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind…thou shall love thy neighbor as thy self”. Here, Jesus emphasized on the need to love the Lord with all thy heart, soul and mind as when you love the Lord you won’t sin against Him and we are to love ourselves as well as when you love someone, you will not hurt him. This means that if you love God you won’t go against His will and commandments; therefore you can’t lie, commit immorality, keep malice, backbite, curse, steal and commit any other form of evil because you love Him. Also, Jesus spoke of a second part of this greatest commandment. He asked us to have love for our neighbors even as we love ourselves, if you love them you’ll restrict yourself from doing anything to hurt them. You can’t hurt, gossip, cheat, envy, lie to, fight or implicate them.

Jesus demonstrated the greatest kind of love when He decided to leave His throne and glory for earth, to die for the sins of mankind—John 15:13. This commandment from God was established for Christians to live by daily. By doing this, the heathen will know that of a truth you are a child of God. Love has been misunderstood by many as they take it for friendship. As a believer, you must obey this commandment called LOVE but friendship is a choice to be made by the leading of the spirit of God as He alone knows everyone more than they know themselves. There are three kinds of love thought to be one by people all over the world: the first is PHINOS- meaning pure friendship, this is not the love the Lord Jesus commanded us. The second is EROS- this kind is plainly lust of the flesh, it is a characteristic of the world and it is mainly practiced by youths and teenagers worldwide. Lastly, we have the AGAPE- this is the Jesus kind of love. His commandment to us was based on this as it is the only real love and it comes from the Father who Himself is love personified. But this love of God has its own standards, limits and restrictions. In 1 Jn. 2:15-17, Jesus said, “love not the world, neither the things that are in the world …for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life…”

The greatest enemy of man is not sin, Satan or death, the greatest is SELF or put FLESH. This is the ‘lust of the flesh’ way back even before man’s first parents first sinned and were cast away from the presence of God, angel Lucifer(the devil) consented to his flesh and beauty. He was the one who walked in the midst of fire, he dwelt upon the holy mountain of God and was perfect till iniquity was found in him- Eze. 28:14-19. He even planned to overthrow the Most High; this was clearly the lust of the flesh. The lust of the flesh is responsible for so many greed, calamities and destructions in the world, it has led to the downfall of many with great visions, destinies, purpose and call. Due to the increment and intensity of this lust of the flesh, the eyes are enticed; the devil highly worshipped his beauty and splendor and this lead to his lust for the throne of God, and with these processes laid the last step: the pride of life. This was what made a covering cherub to lose his place in glory; after all, pride always go before a fall.

Believers must watch this and know where to draw the line. God the owner of our soul is saying that friendship with the world is enmity with him; friendship has a powerful influence on the persons or parties involved, so also evil friendship has evil effect on God’s children. This is why all Christians are expected to struggle and overcome sins for the kingdom’s sake as sinners only take pleasure in it. God asked His people to stay away from all forms of evil personalities as they will corrupt His people, stealing their hearts and destroying them at the end( Deut. 7:1-6) Don’t forget, “evil communications corrupt good manners” 1 Corin. 15:33. There is no similarity between God and the devil or believers and unbelievers, there is always a clear difference (2 Corin. 6:14-18). Every Christian is a target for the devil, so therefore guard your salvation zealously. Good friends will bring you up but bad friends will drag you down; prayerfully choose your friends in other to avoid danger and regret. Many today feel they are wise enough to make friends for themselves so they remove God from all their dealings. They forget that King Solomon had the gift of wisdom, but still he left God’s presence and built altars for gods of his wives who at the later end lured him to serve these gods with them. He pleased his seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines but displeased the Almighty God who was the God of his fathers (1 kings 11:1-11). The commandment of God is clear, and the only way one can be a friend or child of God is by separating himself from the world. Whosoever abides by this commandment is of God, even the Psalmist calls him BLESSED (psalm 1:1-3)

Remain rapturable!!!