In The World But Not Of The World

As I look at the news today I can’t help but think the world has gone wacky.  Society calls the things that are wrong right and right things wrong.  Down is up and up is down.

Without Jesus, we should be surprised, with Him as our Lord and Savior we shouldn’t. I must confess that even though I am a blood-bought child of The Living God, I have a hard time (at times) with what’s going on in the world. When I think of the guy on a cruise after perhaps saving for the cruise for years, to be met by a guy in a haz-mat suit because of a Ebola virus quarantine on board, I wonder what is going on. I wonder at what point do I say “wow…that’s as good as it gets”. Or just laugh to keep from crying.

We live in a broken world and have for thousands of years.  Why, as followers of Christ, would or should we be surprised that the world seems to be off the rails now? (Glad you asked) I think it is partially that even though we intellectually know parts of the big-picture God has for the future, we can’t see it that readily. We then get focused on our situation – on ourselves and we have a tendency to focus on the negative aspects of all we can see.

The other part of the answer to that question is the FACT that the Kingdom Of God is EXACTLY the opposite of the kingdom of the world. God’s Kingdom serves, changes hearts from the inside out and thus manifest in changed behavior rooted in love. The broken kingdom of the world can only control behavior by force or threat of force from the outside in. The world’s only concern is if our behavior lines up. The world does not and cannot care about the motivation of hearts. The two will always be at odds – it can be no other way.

Even for Christians it seems the expectation is for conditions in their world, town, state, city or neighborhood to always get better. The fact is though - The world is degenerating. I don't mean that we shouldn't or can't change our individual situations.  We think positively and take control (we think) of our situations to make them have the best possible outcome for us. We plan for the future, careers, family, vacations, college, retirement etc.  We should plan for these things.  It would very be foolish not to.

 We can and should do this. We should do everything we can to have a Kingdom influence – pray, have faith for (after prayer and study to find and know Christ’s mind and example) and act within the confines of the governing laws - remember Christ never once railed against the oppressive Romans or broke their laws. He never once criticizes or bad mouthed the Roman government.  In fact he forgave them and prayed for them.  He instructs His disciples (and us) to go the extra mile for them. 

 I’m convinced that Jesus doesn’t care about your political affiliations.  He doesn’t care if you’re a democrat, a republican, a socialist or whatever.  What He cares about, is whether you follow Him or not.  

We take our example from God.  God is a God of organization and planning, He does nothing haphazardly, He never acts rashly or shoots from the hip.  He has a set of values and standards He has passed on to us.  Those standards are called the Word.

Many places in The Word, God tells us to meditate on it (His Word). When we do this regularly, we start to see things as He sees them. We start to know His mind. We see different problems. Thank God – we see different solutions!

The more we hold to His Word and stick to His thinking, the more we recognize just how upside down the world really is.  John tells us that we are in the world but not of the world.

In Joshua 5:13, the Commander of the Lord’s army (whom we know as Jesus), tells Joshua that He is on no one’s side.  This tells me that Joshua’s commander was God and it also tells me The Lord is with those that are with Him (in context).

It follows then, if Jesus is the Word (John 1:1.and 14), and The Word is God, and He is with those who are for Him and He has provided His Word to us so we can know Him, then it also follows that we know Him and follow Him by utilizing and meditating on His Word as made available to us. Namely The Bible.

To meditate means to mull over, kick around in your mind, to ponder and to think about deeply. You can go to the internet and read up on methods to meditate on The Word. While there is nothing wrong with employing or learning a new method for anything. We should always be learning God’s Word and ways to study it. In fact, I am going to re-post a study on a method of meditation on The Word that changed my life as only God’s Word can.

Remember though, the children of Israel, as they received this instruction had no internet. Bible study instruction was nonexistent because there was no Bible. They had God’s Word to think about and mull over in their minds and most importantly to act on and employ in their lives – in everything they did. It is obviously impossible for them or us to employ anything in their or our lives without thinking about it.

 The focus here is on God’s Word – it can, does and will change lives. Meditating, thinking about,  focusing on, His words and thoughts changes our point of view to His. We then know Him more and more. The more we know Him, the easier it is to have faith in and act on what He is telling us to do.

The fact is we MUST do this on PURPOSE. Meditating on The Word won’t happen otherwise. We can’t know Him otherwise. We can’t expect God’s Word to work in our lives if He has nothing to work with. We can’t see things from His perspective if we don’t know it because we haven’t thought it over, kicked it around in our minds, thought about, thought deeply or pondered it. It's on us!

He is telling us what to do Joshua 1:8 (meditate on The Word) and then leaving it up to us Deut. 30:19 (choose life).