Spot Free

The Bible tells us to keep ourselves “unspotted from the world” (James 1:27 NLT). So how does the world “spot” (or soil) us in the first place?

It starts with friendship with the world. James 4:4 says, “Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God” (NLT).

This leads to a love for this world. First John 2:15 says, “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you” (NLT).

Then it’s our love for the world that results in our conformity to this world. We read in Romans 12:2, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (NLT).

We find a classic example of this in the book of Genesis. When the angels came to deliver Lot out of Sodom and Gomorrah, they had to practically drag him out of the city.

How did it all start? The Bible tells us that “Lot moved his tents to a place near Sodom and settled among the cities of the plain” (Genesis 13:12 NLT). Lot moved closer to Sodom (maybe so he could keep it in view), and the next thing you know, he had moved into Sodom.

But before long, Sodom had moved into him. Lot lost his testimony and ultimately his own family. And when judgment fell on Sodom, he lost everything.

True spirituality is primarily measured by what we do, not by what we say. So let’s keep ourselves unspotted from the world.