I thank you because you may have merely been enjoying my spotlight blogs and now are questioning how these religious rants are related to the Gaffner Chaos. I guess, effectively, these are my spotlight blogs. Because this is me. Always opinionated and always passionate, especially about my faith.
Don't worry, I will return to more light-hearted Gaffner Chaos anecdotes as soon as I complete this thought.
And complete it, we shall.
The most common argument I hear from the outspoken Christian breed that speaks against all things "worldly" is that we are called to be "in the world, but not of the world". There is actually no specific scripture which states this proposition, however much of Scripture indicates that we should be setting ourselves apart. In fact, holiness means to "set apart". This suggests that the moment that you believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord that your life should become different from those around you. Hopefully a good kind of different.
I think the confusion is over how we as Christians can live "IN" the world but not be "OF" the World and the assumption was made that in order to follow Christ we must turn our backs on the world. Enter the pharisee with all of his/her lists of what is right, wrong, and just plain "sinful". And despite my loathing of their annoying protests, I understand their motive. I think the problem is that they have the wrong orientation.
We have an awesome life road map in God's Word and it gives clear cut guidelines for "holy living", what it doesn't give... specifics. For example, Jesus talked about many things but whether or not one should listen to Christian rock or Christian bluegrass... not exactly one of his topics. Paul clearly states in Philippians that we should think about such things that encourage holiness, purity, etc (Philippians 4:8), but once again no specific guidelines for your entertainment preferences.
And YET I have seen and heard Christians bash other Christians and non-believers alike over the things they listen to, watch, and read.... things that are clearly not Biblically motivated but merely preferential. (And trust me there's a HUGE difference between a goofy comedic movie and porn, and the latter most certainly falls into that "unholy" category based on scripture that speaks specifically against sexual immorality.) But the fact remains that many have taken their own preferences and traditions and attempted to ascribe these man-made laws as gospel when in fact, they are not. Once again, it's all in the way they are oriented. What does that mean? Let me explain.
I learned the answer this weekend and it's tres simple. So simple a kid could understand.
(insert cute picture of my baby here... lol)
When we believe in and accept the fact that we are sinners and that Christ is the only way we will receive forgiveness from those sins, we have to make a decision to "repent" which means to turn our backs on our sin. But we have mistakingly assumed that when we turn our backs on our sin that we must turn our backs on the world. But how does that make sense? How do you evangelize in a world that you have turned against? And besides we aren't asked to leave the world, obviously we are still IN the world.
The problem is that we have assumed that we are in the middle of a giant battle of God vs. the World. On one side we have God desiring our love, worship, and attention and on the other side we have the World that tempts us to do everything contrary to God's Word. It's back and forth, left and right, and we are left dizzy from the decision.
But what if we move?
What if we change the orientation?
Or more pointedly, God moves from just another choice or decision, to the priority of the equation.
We move God to the middle, the center of it all.
(Which if you ask me, that's where He deserves to be to begin with.)
Now God is in the middle and we are looking at the World through God's eyes.
VOILA!!!
Now you are able to be IN the world but not OF the world.
How? Because though you are an active participant in life on earth, your "glasses" are now colored to God's perspective. It takes all the pressure off of you to be "right" and puts all your trust on God's ability to direct you toward things that are good and profitable for your life. And it takes away the necessity of the obnoxious Christian "holy patrol". Who needs them if we all cease to see things through our own eyes and start looking through God's?
There's no way you or I can be perfect. But we can be set apart, different, more focused on the real issues... when we make God the priority, not ourselves.
That's the real problem with our modern day Pharisee's, they have a centralized faith... centered on themselves.
What we need are more Christians willing to move around their equation, putting God in the center and seeing things through His eyes. Viewing with Him as our mediator will change what we watch, listen to, and read, but also how we share that message with others.
Just a thought. :)
And just to be totally honest, it's not my own thoughts but from the mouth of a great Christian speaker and author, Mr. David Rhodes. Check him out at www.wayfarerministries.org
