In the World, But Not of It.

      I attend a secular college where professors and students alike continually test my personal beliefs with what they say and what they do.

      I work at a restaurant where people swear continually, praise drunkenness and partying, and rale angrily about their guests.

      Constantly I'm surrounded by the world. Day after day Satan tries to make me think that sin isn't so bad, sometimes not bad at all. I guess it's easier and easier to give into that mindset after being desensitized by disgusting speech, sex-saturated society, bad attitudes all around, drunkenness being praised, etc. But the world idolizes . . . everything--praising sin and looking down upon those who stand up for what is right.

      But if we're actually growing closer to God, getting to know him more and becoming more like Christ, these things of the world, this sinfulness, should be becoming more and more grotesque to us, not more acceptable: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2). We should be grieved; but I'm afraid, instead, many of us start to embrace these things ourselves, annoyed with all of the people (brothers and sisters in Christ) who are "judging us" for participating in certain things.

"When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse, he understands his badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right."

-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

      But where does the Bible say not to swear? Where does the Bible say not to do drugs? And well, maybe the Bible says somewhere not to get drunk, but I don't think it really meant it . . . people just need to stop be legalistic!

      But God calls us to be completely different from the world. We are supposed to stand out--if we don't stand out, if we're living the same lives as the world around us, what exactly is it that makes us believe that we're Christians? Just because we believe that God exists? Just because we believe that God loves us? While faith is extremely important, our actions matter too!

Here are some things that God has to say about the world and how we are to relate to it and such:

"I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins."

Isaiah 13:11

"The wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight."

1 Corinthians 3:19

"If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight reign on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is useless. Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

James 1:26-27

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."

Matthew 7:21

"You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

Matthew 5:13-16

"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."

1 John 2:15-17

      Anyway. All of this has been on my heart more and more lately. I see my own morals slipping and I find myself forgetting why I ever had a problem with certain things, or trying to convince myself that they aren't wrong. I also have witnessed many dear friends seem to lose the convictions that they once held and slowly slip into sin.

      It breaks my heart, and I know it doesn't please God. So I'm sorry about all of the rambling, but please do look at your heart and examine yourself honestly. I know that I needed a wake up call; we have eternity before us and an awesome God to serve.

"If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world. That is why the world hates you."

John 15:19