If you\u2019ve been a part of the church of Christ for any time at all, you\u2019re certainly familiar with the classic hymn \u201cThis World is not My Home.\u201d We\u2019ve all sang over and over that we\u2019re \u201cjust a-passing through.\u201d And it\u2019s true. As Jesus prayed in John 17, we\u2019re not of \u201cthe world.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n
But do we mean it?<\/p>\n\n\n
As American Christians, we\u2019ve developed an expectation that the government and the public should honor our Christian beliefs and show some kind of outward respect for them. We\u2019ve conditioned ourselves to expect a friendliness from the very people that Jesus said would hate us (John 15:18), a belief that would baffle Christians throughout the rest of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n
One example: you may have seen the image going around social media comparing New York City from the 1950\u2019s to today. The first image depicts the city\u2019s skyscrapers lit up with crosses for Easter weekend in 1956, while the second shows One World Trade Center tower lit up with pink to celebrate New York\u2019s new abominable abortion law. This has many wishing that we could return to those previous days.<\/p>\n\n\n
While I don\u2019t disagree that our nation had far more churchgoers in years gone by, and that the nation was far more friendly to Christian values, two questions arise.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
First, are we wishing for this world to be our home? The Bible tells us over and over that suffering is part of the deal when you follow Jesus and that we should rejoice in it (Romans 5:3-5, 2 Timothy 3:12, 1 Peter 4:12-13). When we see the nation turn against Christian values, we must train ourselves to be ready to suffer rather than demanding favor from the world.<\/p>\n\n\n
Second, were things really better? That 1956 photo mentioned above came 3 years after Playboy<\/em> magazine began circulation. The nation was largely segregated with racism being an established way of life, even among many churches. The sexual revolution and the exploding drug culture were just a few years away, and Roe v. Wade<\/em> wasn\u2019t too far in the distance, either. <\/p>\n\n\n Essentially, we had a whitewashed nation. It looked good and moral on the outside, but on the inside the decay that led to today was well underway. Unfortunately, it\u2019s not a stretch to suspect that many Christians would be perfectly content and consider our job done if our nation went back to having Bibles and prayer times in schools, marriage and drug laws to our suiting, and Christian symbols commonly accepted once again. <\/strong>We want a quick, mass solution – make a new law, write a new policy – when A) That isn\u2019t our mission and B) That\u2019s not real change.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n I\u2019m not one of those who will tell you that Christianity \u201calways does better under persecution.\u201d North Korea and Saudi Arabia aren\u2019t sending out many Christian missionaries, for example. However, I do believe that history has shown us that when government and Christianity intertwine, weakened Christianity results, starting with Emperor Constantine granting Christianity favor in 4th Century Rome. The account of Gideon vs. the Midianites and plenty of other biblical accounts show us a God that has no interest in relying on human might.<\/p>\n\n\n Though I\u2019m not advocating we stay out of politics, it\u2019s important that we realize that we haven\u2019t been called to make the world Christian by law. That simply can\u2019t be done. We have to win hearts one at a time and live faithfully for God through whatever challenges may arise from our increasingly hostile culture. <\/p>\n\n\n We would do well to familiarize ourselves with the exilic prophets. Daniel and his friends showed us how God\u2019s people can seek the peace and prosperity of the cities where we are exiled (to paraphrase Jeremiah 29:7). They didn\u2019t try to force the Jewish religion on their captors or expect favor from people who didn\u2019t know God. Instead, they steadfastly went about practicing their devotion to God, and they used the opportunities God provided them to tell others about Him. In this, God was able to show His power as He saw fit.<\/p>\n\n\n However, if we\u2019re going to live like Daniel and friends, we have to start by viewing ourselves as exiles. We are not of this world, our treasure is not in this world, and our security is not in this world. Let\u2019s make sure we mean it when we sing \u201cthis world is not my home.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you\u2019ve been a part of the church of Christ for any time at all, you\u2019re certainly familiar with the classic hymn \u201cThis World is not My Home.\u201d We\u2019ve all sang over and over that we\u2019re \u201cjust a-passing through.\u201d And it\u2019s true. As Jesus prayed in John 17, we\u2019re not of \u201cthe world.\u201d But do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,32,35,83],"tags":[138,316,141,87],"class_list":["post-8311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-church","category-culture","category-government","tag-america","tag-christianity","tag-government","tag-politics","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n