Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15)

Today we are going to look at the biggest distraction we face when trying to follow the Word–the world itself.

What it comes down to is this: where does our allegiance lie? We are either aligned with the world or with the Word. James made it clear we can’t have it both ways when he wrote “friendship with the world is enmity with God.” (James 4:4)

Blending in with the World

We live in this world with all the temptations and distractions that come with it (1 Corinthians 5:9-10). We don’t have a choice there, but we do have a choice as to where we align our values. “No one can serve two masters, you will hate one and love the other” (Matthew 6:24), therefore we must decide how we will live while we are here.

We face temptations every single day, but one of the most dangerous temptations Christians face seems innocent enough. It’s the temptation to just blend in with everyone else. To be part of the world. To be complacent. This temptation is so subtle that we sometimes don’t realize that we are making ourselves enemies to God (James 4:4).

This seems harmless, however we are not called to blend in or to be complacent. The temptation to be like the other nations around them is something that plagued Israel throughout the Old Testament, and it still happens with us today.

Jesus said just the opposite, he warned us that we would be hated by the world for His Word. You’re not hated by the world for just blending in. Blending in is compromising; it’s trying to have the world and the Word simultaneously. But we are called to take up our crosses daily and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23).

Picking up our crosses daily is not a one-time commitment, it is a call to put God first every single day, no matter what the world might think of us. In our desire to fit in, we often filter the scripture through the lens of our changing culture, when we should be filtering culture through the unchanging scripture.

When we try to filter scripture through a cultural lens we are weakening the authority of the scriptures. This is where the danger lies, because when we do this we can justify nearly anything, and blur the line between what is scriptural and what is not.

It’s not only individuals who do this, some churches attempt to align with the world on controversial issues like marriage, sexuality, and identity. The churches that do this are trying to conform to the world, not to change the world but to become part of it.

Standing Strong in the Word

The Bible urges us: be on your guard; “stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong” (1 Corinthians 16:13 NIV).

This is not a call to blend in, it is a call to stand out. We are not to give in to the pressure from the world. The values of the world are always changing, but God and His Word never change. Scripture means the same thing today that it meant when it was written.

Jesus knew this would not be easy when He said,  “blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!” (Luke 6:22)

The questions are: who do you obey? Have you pledged allegiance to the world or are your values aligned with the Word?

Why Align With the Word?

Paul warned us not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewal of our minds (Romans 12:2). This is a hard decision for people to make: Why would anybody choose to follow the hard path when it is easier to align with the world, or to just blend in as a Christian?

Paul gives us the answer in Galatians:

⁸ For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. ⁹ And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:8-9 ESV)

It is the choice between corruption of the flesh and eternal life. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.  If your mind is governed by the flesh you are hostile to God. (Romans 8:6-7)

We are called to be the light of the world, not to be hidden under a basket. When we try to conform to the world we are hiding under a basket. Our light is to shine out before others and we will be blessed when we are persecuted in this life because of Christ, but we’ll have a reward in heaven. (Matthew 5:11-16).

It’s not an easy choice, because we want people to like us. But it’s the choice we’ve been called to make when we accept Jesus Christ. When we recognize all He has done for us, the question should shift from why would we choose the hard path? to why would we want to keep it hidden?

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