Romans Chapter 12 cont'd
Don't let the value system of fallen humanity [lit. "the world"] mold or dictate your life or lifestyle. Rather, cooperate with God's agenda to transform you through the spiritual renewal of your thinking, so that you may be able to discern the will of God which is truly good, always acceptable and entirely perfect.
Comments:
"The world" is a challenging phrase to properly understand in scripture...have you discovered this too? The apostle John says that "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son...." and later said to Christ-followers, "Do not love the world...." This simple juxaposition captures the essence of this challenge. How believers have handled this paradox has had huge implications for the lives and the sense of mission of many individuals and communities of faith throughout the centuries. Helpful sayings and word pictures have been used in an attempt to help believers to navigate this tension: We are not "of the world", but we are called to live "in the world". The Church is like a great ship that is in the water ("the world"), but it must not allow the water into the ship if it is to accomplish its purpose. But the application of such ideas takes some deeper thought, study, prayer and fellowship (with the Holy Spirit and our friends in Christ) to properly work out in our lives.
In the previous post I mentioned the concept of an essential "detachment" as a beginning point for a healthy understanding of biblical spirituality. This "world" (that is akin to "this age") is not the source of our life. Rather, the core of our being is vitally connected, by the Holy Spirit, to the invisible realm of highest heaven, where Christ is seated and reigning over heaven and earth at the Father's right hand. Neither do we allow the cultures of this world to define the essence of our value system or the worldview, by which we establish our bearings for living in this world. Our lives are grounded in the transcendent and eternal kingdom of God. And, there is a range of heart-beliefs and spiritual disciplines held out to us in scripture that, when embraced, continually reinforces this reality to our souls, minds and bodies.
Yet many believers and movements, usually out of a noble quest to be or become "holy" and not be "worldly", have taken this kind of "detachment from the world" to unbiblical extremes. Humorous, bizarre and tragic stories can be recounted that have emerged out of these religiously over-charged sub-cultures. Fundamentalism and, what I call "revivalism", have typically promoted a too negative view of the world (and thereby modeling an extreme "detachment") and...liberalism has typically reacted to this and denigrated any kind of "detachment" from the world in an attempt to not be "religious", like those fundamentalists. I am convinced that there is a "kingdom spirituality" that the Holy Spirit promotes (and is working in our day, as only he can do, to powerfully promote) that permits us to drop out of the traditional and boring fundamentalist/liberal "reaction-charged" debate. Reacting to human beings has never been a key to discovering true spirituality in Christ.
I have coined a phrase that I like to use to help my fellow pilgrims who long to find a kind of Christ-centered spirituality that provides a framework for holding and living out this paradox in our relationship to and view of this world. Here it is: We must be detached from this world in order to be engaged with this world without becoming entangled by this world.
As Romans 12/13 unfold, I think we'll find some practical wisdom from the apostle Paul that reflects this way of thinking, being and relating.
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