I find it alarming how easy it is for believers—myself included—to be caught up in the cares of this world and to follow the worrying, fearful pattern of unbelievers. Here’s the truth.
Whether it’s a financial meltdown, a shocking wave of violence, or a contentious election cycle, God’s people ought to be able to look past today’s bad news—as well as any threats on the horizon—and take comfort in the fact that our hope is not bound to the circumstances of this world.
Rather than setting our affections on things above, we tend to become attached to the things of this earth. It’s all too easy to become absorbed in temporal matters and neglect what is eternally important. . . .Col chapter 3 as reference
Sadly, having lost sight of the “sweet by and by,” too many Christians busy themselves with the harried here and now, and they themselves are consumed by consumable things.
God simply is not calling us to wage a culture war that would seek to transform our countries into “Christian nations.” To devote all, or even most, of our time, energy, money, and strategy to putting a façade of morality on the world or the appearance of “rightness” over our governmental and political institutions is to badly misunderstand our roles as Christians in a spiritually lost world.
Put simply, the “culture” is unredeemable. The work of God’s kingdom is not about transforming governments, rewriting laws, or rebuilding society into some kind of Christian utopia. None of those supposed solutions does anything to address the problem of sin or the need for a Savior.
Political remedies to our nation’s moral ills are no cure for the underlying spiritual problems. Of all people, Christians ought to know that, and the preponderance of our efforts ought to be focused on proclaiming the truth that can genuinely set people free.
Lives, not just laws, need to be transformed before America will be in a position to ask for and expect God’s blessing. The blessings of God cannot be acquired by any legislative process. Law cannot make people righteous.
Scripture is clear on this. “If righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain” (Galatians 2:21). No one is justified by works of law, but by faith in Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:16). And saving faith is an individual matter; it cannot be imposed by legislative force.
When the church takes a stance that emphasizes political activism and social moralizing, it always diverts energy and resources away from evangelization. Such an antagonistic position toward the established secular culture invariably leads believers to feel hostile not only to unsaved government leaders with whom they disagree, but also antagonistic toward the unsaved residents of that culture—neighbors and fellow citizens they ought to love, pray for, and share the gospel with. To me it is unthinkable that we become enemies of the very people we seek to win to Christ, our potential brothers and sisters in the Lord.
For those with such a view, even the command to “keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1) becomes a justification for carnal covetousness.
You wouldn’t think such charlatans would gain much traction in a world so familiar with suffering, hardship, violence, and grief.
And yet prosperity preachers have become the face of the church in many parts of the world. Therefore, God’s people must all the more on guard against the threat of materialism and the dangers of falling in love with the world and its pleasures.
No matter how it manifests itself, a preoccupation with this world is a significant threat to believers. Here’s how John MacArthur describes it:
Because the church doesn’t really have heaven on its mind, Christians tend to be self-indulgent, self-centered, weak, and materialistic. Our present comforts consume too much of our thoughts, and if we’re not careful, we end up entertaining wrong fantasies about heaven—or thinking very little of heaven at all.
Cultivating a Christian perspective—one that rightly appraises both the cares of this world and its pleasures—starts with fixing our eyes on heaven. And in the days ahead, that’s what we aim to do.
“We are simply passing through” At times I to forget….
Real Talk
