Have you noticed how easily people swear these days? Cursing has become commonplace, casual and fixed as a part of the way so many people talk today. If you want to know where this comes from you just need to watch TV, especially one of the streaming services available. Or perhaps not. It is amazing how casually people adopt what they see and hear on their TV screens.
Something else that has become commonplace is ‘partners.’ I have a wife, my wife has a husband, but most people today, even if they are married, have a partner. I had a conversation with a lady who began speaking about her husb...and corrected herself, ‘my partner.’ Of course, my wife is my partner, but ‘wife’ means so much more in this age of casual relationships.
Why do I speak as I do, act and live my life this way and not that? Most people don’t give a second thought to it. There is very little of ‘not that,’ just ‘what now?’ My old mother, looking out on an increasingly confusing world, used to say, ‘Well, that’s the way they do things these days.’ Is that what we do? Do things the way they are done these days?
God’s people are repeatedly taught we are not to take our cue from the society around us. Yet popularity is what so many chase, despite everything the Bible tells us. James warns us:
‘You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.’ (James 4:4)
Jesus prepares us for rejection, not popularity:
If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. (John 15:18-19)
The proverb warns us:
‘There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.’ (Prov. 14:12)
Paul is blunt in his warning to the church in wordly, pagan Corinth:
‘You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. ‘ (1 Cor.10:21)
He goes on to write:
‘Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character.’ (1 Cor.15:33)
Whether it is the focus of our worship, or our choice of company on the road of life, we are warned about the corrupting nature of wrong choices.
That’s well and good but the pull of the crowd is strong. Even churches find themselves trying to win favour with the world, mistakenly thinking if the world likes us we may influence it. However, when the world likes you then you are in trouble. So, how do we resist its pull, escape the gravity of the crowd? Paul helps us in his letter to Philippi:
‘Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.’ (Philip.3:17)
Two questions spring to mind:
Who do I keep my eyes on? Being selective about what TV you watch is a good start, but what company do I keep, what places do I frequent? Do I meet regularly with faithful people of God (Heb.10:25), encouraging one another (1 Thess.5:11)?
What about the books I read? Am I reading the best books, godly writers, works that stretch my renewed mind? Am I regularly reading the Bible?
Paul writes, ‘Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.’ (Rom.12:2) How will I know his good, pleasing and perfect will if I don’t diligently seek it out in the right places?
Who has their eyes on me? As I go about my day, is my example worthy of the attention of others? Am I among those to whom Paul refers when he writes, ‘keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us’? It is a joy and inspiration when we see others fit that description, ones we look up to. There have been so many in my life. When new and immature Christians seek a role model, might that be me?
Among the chaos of complacency in so many churches now there are those, touched by the Spirit, truly converted to Christ, earnestly seeking ground on which to stand, examples they may trust and follow. I remind us that, out of the darkest depths of what seemed certain defeat at the cross, Christ triumphed and birthed a people of God for himself.
We are the inheritors of that rich legacy and look again for his coming. If the confused and the despairing gather around my door, will they find in me someone walking according to the example set by Paul, Timothy, and countless others in Christian history? I fervently pray they will.
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