Jesus told us to be IN the world but not OF the world…

What does that mean? How do you do it? I have spent most of my life striving to avoid worldly things by going to church on Sunday, hanging with the “right” people, not being caught in the wrong places, listening to the ”right” music and generally following the Christian “dos” and “don’ts”. When I haven’t followed them…I spent significant energy making sure none of my Christian friends knew I had been less than the image I had painted for them. So up till now…I have spent most of my time making sure I was not IN the world and when I slipped up and got IN it, I covered well.

I am growing really tired of living that way. Sunday morning is more stressful than Monday morning. We have made being a good Christian all about finding the right church or pastor to associate ourselves with. We are kind of obsessed with getting OUT of the world.

Don’t get me wrong…I truly agree we are to have other believers around us, building each other up. The genuine and humble Christian friends I have are the people that inspire me and  in part move me to be a genuine and humble Christian. Problem is…that has been 99.9% of our focus and it takes us OUT of the world. It is much more comfortable to stay in a circle of people that think, believe and agree with us.

But Jesus has called us to be IN the world…

Feel free to agree or disagree in the comments section below. We will talk more about the OF part next time and maybe discuss some ways we can follow through on Jesus’ request/command.