As a follower of Jesus Christ I’m so curious these days about the standard used to decide our values and conduct. It seems, to me anyway, a culture of thought has crept into the church (I use this term to describe the entire body of believers) which allows for just about any kind of thinking (opinions) and activity that each believer ‘feels’ is right. I’m probably not even articulating this exactly like I wish I could. But talking to so many believers I know, and have known over the years, the overwhelming impression I get is one of conformity to the world rather than a noticeable variance in our attitude, conduct, activity, etc.
We are apt to forget that a man is not only committed to Jesus Christ for salvation; he is committed to Jesus Christ's view of God, of the world, of sin and of the devil, and this will mean that he must recognize the responsibility of being transformed by the renewing of his mind. Oswald Chambers
I often wonder, since Jesus told us He could do nothing of Himself and He only did what He heard from His Father how it is that I (we) think I (we) can have so many opinions about what is okay and not okay for how I (we) think and therefore live.
Transformed: to change somebody or something dramatically, especially improving their usefulness; to undergo change completely for the better.
As a side note: I’ll share more later about the fact that these admonitions from the Bible were not meant to become a legalistic way of living that shuts the world out of our lives. Quite the opposite actually.
2 comments:
"love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."
1 John 1:15
but ... "God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life".
John 3:16
the 'things that are in the world' is so different than 'the love of God for the world'. the unbeliever knows only what is available 'now' to satisfy his human desires, and the lust for those things drives him to crave more and more how to acquire and engage in those things. but ... God realized that with man (His created being) there would be no stopping his ability to create the things of this world that would/could destroy his soul. God's love for his creation (the world) demanded He provide for the salvation of His created being, an escape from the perishable things of this world, and everlasting life with Him. that is God's love for the world.
it is only when we as believers can love the world ... like God loves the world, that we can separate ourselves from the world of sin and its' pleasures. then we can be in the world, but not of the world ... and we are then ready and willing to live the transformed life by the grace of God.
i was a Christian for many years, but still participated in the things of this world. i wanted to be 'like everyone else' and have fun and join in doing what was common to do with many of my friends. i knew it was wrong, but i allowed myself to think it was all right since it was what many of my believing friends were also doing. it took a life-changing encounter with the person of Jesus Christ to open my eyes and penetrate my stony heart to truly realize the amazing capacity of His love for me. after that, i wanted to live and act differently. thank God for His infinite patience, grace and kindness that i survived those early years.
"thank God for His infinite patience, grace and kindness that i survived those early years." ... it was His tender kindness that lead me to repentance, too... and still does. Thanks for the thoughts, Geeg.
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