Today’s focus will be on the second verse of the song.
When I was Your foe, still Your love fought for me
You have been so, so good to me
When I felt no worth, You paid it all for me
You have been so, so kind to me
Have you ever considered that you were or are an enemy of our Lord? My immediate thought is that I would never be his enemy, how could I be after all he has done for me? Yet, when I stop and think about “When I was Your foe”, I realize that I was an enemy of the one who saved me. In the world today, we are constantly bombarded by news and actions that are not acceptable to God and therefore should not be acceptable to those who are saved and truly love the Lord; the vast majority of the breaking news items are focused on sinful actions. To help put this in perspective, think about your views on these recurring top news items: abortion, the various components of LGBTQ, how we treat people of other races or nationalities, people who have different political views than we do, and the list goes on. As you think about your views on the above, are you truly acting the way God would want you to act or are you acting against what the bible reveals to us? Are we doing what is right and what God wants us to do or are we going along with the way the world wants us to be? Note that I am not advocating hatred, violence, or prejudice against anyone since I believe that we should love all people even if their beliefs and actions do not align with what we are taught to believe via the word of God.
By taking the stance that you support the sins and ways of the world, you are taking a stand against God; take a breath and think about this… I think we do a lot of things because we want to be accepted by those around us and build friendships, but James 4:4 tells us “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.” When James refers to adulterers and adulteresses in this verse, I believe he is referring to those who want to be part of the beliefs of the world and also profess to be a child of God, but we must make a choice. If we work hard to be friends of the world and believe what the world wants us to believe, then we have become a foe of God and told him he is no longer our friend.
In spite of the influences of the world and despite the fact that we are sometimes an enemy of God, he loves us. He still sent Jesus to die for us, so we could have eternal life despite the influences of the world. He still gave us the Holy Spirit to help guide us. He still fights for us everyday and that still small voice reminds us who we really belong to and how we should cling to the love of Christ and not be drawn into a world that becomes more sinful every day. John 15:19 tells us “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” This is a great verse to remember when you struggle with the conflicts between what the world believes and what Jesus requires us to believe. Even though we do not deserve his love, even though we are constantly pulled away from him by the world, and even though we struggle to keep him first in our lives; he has erased all of our sin so we can live with him forever. As the old hymn states, Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe.
Are you a friend or foe, take some time to reflect on this and choose who or what you want to serve.