As Christians, we are to be set apart from the world. But what does this mean? One could answer two different ways. 1. Don’t be like the world, (don’t do what the world does.) 2. Be different from the world (do what the world doesn’t) Do you see the difference? According to my Sociology class, which for the record isn’t a favorite class, in our culture, there are two different types of norms. There is proscriptive, and prescriptive. Proscriptives are “should nots” or prohibited actions. Prescriptives are “shoulds” and prescribed like medicine. I think it’s a similar thing with our faith, there seems to be two different ways at looking at being separate or set apart from the world, there is the proscriptive view and the prescriptive view.
This is something I am still mulling over. I tend to think it needs to be a balance of both because if we focus only on what we shouldn’t do, we will completely miss being effective for the kingdom because we do not act of what we believe. In James it says, “Faith without actions is dead.” However, on the other hand if we do all the shoulds that our Christian faith tells us to, but still practice sin, we would be hypocritical. It would be like doing all the things the Bible tells you to without not doing all the things the Bible tells you not to do. So for instance helping the widows, but lying to your brother.
Here is my thought, both views are important, they are both correct, but should we focus on one or the other? No, I would argue not. I think that us being set apart from the world isn’t so much just about what we “do” or “don’t do” although that obviously is part of it and necessary to being set apart. I think our being set apart from the world should be focused on pleasing God, because when it is, we do what the Bible says and we don’t do what the Bible says not to do, because we want to please God.
And that’s where I was trying to go with this. In the above statements, when I fist thought of them, the first thing that struck me was the two different attitudes that come with them. I think for the majority of my teenage life I held the first attitude, which was one of trying to find those lines between right and wrong. I, for a long time, unconsciously would try to get as close to the line without crossing it. I think this is something that most of us still struggle with in certain areas of our lives. However, God has renovated my thinking in the last year in a remarkable and miraculous way, He has said to me that’s it not about just “not doing what’s wrong” and even more its not just about “doing what’s right” its SO much bigger! God has told me that it’s about following Him no matter what and being willing to surrender anything in my life, simply because He asks. That’s a BIG concept. In my life, that has had a lot to do with compromises. I realized suddenly how much I had compromised in small areas. Maybe it was watching a movie that “wasn’t bad” or listening to music that “didn’t cuss”. You see those are things that the Bible doesn’t directly address. We often find areas the Bible appears to be gray on- like piercings and tattoos, etc.. But the Bible shouldn’t have to say everything you can and can’t do, it’s not a rule book for your life. It’s a guide to living your life to please God, it points you to God- and He is the answer to those questions. That requires a relationship, it requires you to be in communication with God, it requires you to sometimes pray, “God, how do you feel about this? Is this something that will bring You glory?”
I hope this is making sense, but what I am trying to say I guess is that God wants all of us, surrendered completely to HIS WILL. That means surrendering and giving up something, even if you can’t see anything wrong with it, because He asked. It means not being angry with Him for taking someone or something in your life that was good, even when you can’t find a reason for Him to have taken it. In essence, it’s all about what my older sister told me a while back. She was reading a book called ‘pleasing God’ and she told me that we are to live our lives to please God. That means examining our actions, decisions, and choices in light of what will please Him. Instead of saying, “Well, is this a sin? Is this wrong? Will I go to Hell for it? Will it ruin my witness?” or even, “Is this what the Bible says I am supposed to do?” It goes beyond those, saying, “Will this bring Glory to God? Will it edify me? Will it build up others and enhance my witness?” This is a hard thing to do. It’s something I wrestle with regularly, and I am painfully aware of how far I have to go. You see, living your life to please God does mean that you try to avoid sin and that you abstain from doing things that will ruin your witness, it means all of that, but it’s about the heart attitude and your willingness to give all for the sake of our Lord. When you stop thinking about what you should or shouldn’t do and ask if something is going to edify you and draw you closer to God, you’ve stopped looking at the value of that item, but have negated its value compared to the value of your relationship with Christ.
Here’s another way to look at it, my youth pastor said, “You are either growing closer to God, or moving further away from Him, there is not cruise control to your Christian walk.” If in your life, you are focused on not falling further away from God, you are at great risk for Satan’s attacks, because you’re trying to stay where you are and that doesn’t really work. You will probably fluctuate a lot day-to-day, move backwards, move forwards, backwards forwards, but you’re really getting nowhere, just covering the same ground. However, if you’re looking ahead and trying to find ways to draw closer to God, new ways to know Him, new understandings of who He is, then you’re drawing closer to God.
It’s not wrong to try to stay away from that line of what is wrong, and its not wrong to try to not sin. However if you aren’t also looking for ways to grow closer to God, it doesn’t really profit you any because overall you aren’t moving closer to God, your just trying not to fall further away. You’re looking behind you at the sin God has freed you from, and asking what is going to pull you back and what isn’t instead of asking what you can ditch so you can get closer to God. It’s that balance of being content in your relationship with God, BUT not being so content that you don’t long, yearn, and strive for more of Him.
Well, I know this was QUITE wordy and long, sorry about that, if you got this far, I thank you for bearing with me and caring about my thoughts. J These are some big concepts and they are ones I am still working through myself, so hopefully this made sense. If you have thoughts on the matter or disagreements please share, I appreciate any wisdom you can give on the subject. God Bless! <3
