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.

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‘To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure.  In fact, both their minds and their consciences are corrupted.  They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him.  They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.’  Titus 1:15-16

 This verse is directed to non-believers but has implications for believers as well.  The mind represents part of our Soul (mind, will and emotions) and the conscience is part of our Spirit (intuition, conscience, communion with God).  How can we grow if we are corrupted?  After coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, we have to deal with the areas of our lives that are broken…but how?

 I think of a computer that is ‘corrupted’.  It won’t work properly, and neither will we.  We need to run an anti-malware program to clean it up.  It is the same with us.  We need the Holy Spirit to search us to see if there is any evil way in us.  We need a firewall to keep out the evil one because he is constantly probing our defenses looking for a way in.

 Could it be that the reason we see so little passion and commitment in our churches today is because they are full of saved but ‘corrupted’ people?  We need the healing and deliverance that Jesus promises.  Come Holy Spirit and do your work in us.

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I invited my good friend Bob Lee to post here…please leave your thoughts and comments below…thanks ebroussard