“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 you want most.

You don’t have time for everyone to be your best friend. You’ve got to decide who you most want to be your 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 soap opera. But they don’t know God. They’ve missed the most important thing in life!

If you’re not a friend of God, it means you 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 you to love people, but that doesn’t mean you have to love the world’s value system.

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

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

That’s how you show your love of God too. If you’re going to be a friend of God, then you’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 your image. He’s not interested in your status. He’s interested in your character—not how you look but who you are.

Are you ready to take a practical step toward friendship with God? Choose to value what he values.