October 09, 2007
Worldly Viewpoint
The current make up of my adult Sunday school class encourages discussion. We have one member who, from the moment he walks in the door, seems to come to class arm in arm with the world. Don’t misunderstand, I know he is a believer and I’m not questioning his salvation. However his comments and sidebars seem to always pull my mind away from the Gospel and send it out into the world. I suppose his use of life experiences and illustrations are meant to imply that he is ‘in the world but not of the world’. John, in warning us about false prophets and telling us to test the spirits says, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.” (1 John 4:4-5 NIV) It’s not unusual for us to fall into the trap of speaking from the viewpoint of the world - especially when we we’re trying to avoid an overly religious appearance.
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Gail;
-----If I wasn’t currently attending your Sunday School class, I would be sure you were talking about me. IN fact, after I had read your entire blog, I took pause and thought, “Gee. I know Gail has occasionally repeated blogs from the past. Maybe this one is from Junish, 2006.”
-----I want to relate more to the tax collector who went up to the temple to pray than I want to relate to the Pharisee. But I am afraid, regardless of the fact I am a CPA, that my attitudes may be relating more to the Pharisee. So I try to look at my downside first, and gee, there is just so much of it there that I run out of time before my up side crosses the mind. Then I see men who really try hard to be good and godly and do their spiritual stuff step all over people who don’t see things the same way. These examples tend to assure me that the tax collector’s is the right perspective.
-----But there are a few people I meet occasionally that seem to carry a calmness, a tensionless demeanor that meets problems and joys alike, and a mind that produces the simple answer making you say, “Gee, why didn’t I think of that,” and making you notice a piece of God’s character. Those people give me reason to wonder about myself. Maybe the reason I see my downside so extensively is less because of its breadth and more because my eyes need to lift a bit higher. I am working on that.
-----But in the meantime, a truth that I know and hold, a truth that brings to me much caution before even a little change is that my goodness, my righteousness, my level of success at being like Him is not for me to acknowledge, feel, or measure. Those are for Him. My faults and failures are for me acknowledge and His mercy is for me to feel and measure.
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