Worldliness vs. Godliness — the choice is clear
This week as I read the next passage of Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate by Jerry Bridges, I came across a section on worldliness. The main sinful things that come from worldliness are money, immorality, and idolatry. These are not necessarily sins that we tolerate in the church, but they are some that many Christians partake in. The one that comes to mind first is idolatry. It is so easy to hold things as a higher priority than God. In our busy lives we tend to idolize our work, our favorite hobbies, our significant others, the list goes on. Keeping God as our no. 1 priority is not easy, but it is necessary. Holding anything in our lives higher than God is sinful. It is hard to swallow this fact sometimes, but it is true.
Often we get caught up with the world that we live in. Worldliness is encouraged by society. Do what makes you happy they say. As Christians we must realize that what will make us eternally happy will be living for Christ. Nothing else will have the same result.
This article talks about all of the facets of worldliness and how it can lead to hurt and sin:
The one thing that stood out to me the most was the section on physical appearance. I know that sometimes I can obsess over the way I look. I need to make sure I have the right outfit, makeup, and hair before I start the day. There is a fine line between worldliness and godliness on this topic. We need to make sure that we do not go overboard, but we still need to be at least presentable with our appearance so that we can have interaction and outreach to others.
There are also some more obvious sins within worldliness like lust and sexual impurity. While these are known and acknowledged by all Christians to be sinful, they still happen within the church. We must treat these smaller sins of physical appearance and idolatry the same as the more obvious sins. If we want to make sure that we are following Christ to the best of our abilities we need to avoid all sins, not just the obvious ones. Let us not conform, but be transformed through Christ Jesus.
As I am wrapping up this blog, I want to encourage all of you college students to read this book. Give it to your parents, your pastors, and your friends. As the Christian church lets take a stand that we do not want to tolerate any sin. Let us try to change the way we live to make sure we are in the world but not of the world.
For further reading on this topic, check out these links:
