Do I Love What God Loves?

“Some of these people have missed the most important thing in life—they don’t know God.” 1 Timothy 6:21 (TLB)

The key to a friendship with God is deciding whose friendship I want most.

I don’t have time for everyone to be my best friend. I've got to decide who I most want to be my closest friend.

The Living Bible paraphrase says, “Some of these people have missed the most important thing in life—they don’t know God” (1 Timothy 6:21).

They know all the baseball scores. They know the stock market quotes. They know the top 10 songs. They know who’s in and who’s out in every TV show. But they don’t know God. They’ve missed the most important thing in life!

If I'm not a friend of God, it means I care about something else more. James 4:4 says, “You should know that loving the world is the same as hating God. Anyone who wants to be a friend of the world becomes God’s enemy” (NCV).

When James writes “loving the world,” he means loving the value system of the world. God wants me to love people, but that doesn’t mean I have to love the world’s value system.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the distractions of life. And when I'm distracted by loving the world’s value system, there’s not much room to love people. Instead, I love materialism. I love pleasure. I love popularity. I love prestige. I love passion, possessions, and position. 

But God loves people. And he wants me to love them too. One way to show my love of others is by taking an interest in their interests. In other words, what is important to others becomes important to me (always within the context of biblical truth).

That’s how I show my love of God too. If I'm going to be a friend of God, then I've got to care about what he cares about and stop caring about the things he doesn’t care about. God doesn’t care about my image. He’s not interested in my status. He’s interested in your character—not how I look but who I am.

If I'm ready to take a practical step toward friendship with God, then choose to value what he values.

In summary:

There is a fundamental tension between worldly preoccupation and a genuine relationship with the Creator, rooted in the warning of 1 Timothy 6:21. It asserts that knowing God is the ultimate human priority, yet many allow their attention to be consumed by ephemeral data—sports scores, market trends, and pop culture—at the expense of spiritual intimacy. Drawing from James 4:4, the message emphasizes that friendship with God requires a decisive rejection of the world's value system, which prioritizes prestige, possessions, and position. True alignment with God involves a shift in focus from external status to internal character and a transition from self-interest to a sincere, sacrificial love for people.

Bottom line:

The depth of mt friendship with God is determined by my willingness to exchange the world’s value system for His eternal priorities.

Next Steps:

Perform a "Value Audit" over the next 48 hours: Identify one specific area where I am currently seeking "status" or "image" (such as social media validation or professional prestige) and intentionally redirect that mental energy toward a character-building discipline or a selfless act of service for someone in your immediate circle.