Why is your worldview so important? Because the way we see the world can change the world. Apostle Paul, who is one of my favorite characters in the Bible, had a radical worldview adjustment. As he neared Damascus, on his way to imprison Christians, Paul was knocked to the ground by a light from heaven. As he was lying on the ground, the Lord Jesus spoke words of revelation and instruction to him. As Paul returned to his feet with new direction from the Lord, Acts 9:8 exposes something insightful to the reader. It says, "Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing."
How many people are walking around today with eyes wide open, but are blind to the will of God? Not only did Saul get a new heart and a new name, but he also got a new worldview. When he regained his vision after being blind for three days, Saul had a Godly mission in life. As a result, he went from being a church persecutor to becoming a church planter. Saul, now as Apostle Paul, would go on to plant some amazing churches and become a chief writer of the New Testament. His letters of love, encouragement, rebuke, instruction and wisdom to the churches he started are read by billions today. Every Christian church on the planet is directly influenced by Apostle Paul's worldview.
Chuck Colson states, "Renewal can occur when Christians are committed to living out their faith, seeing the world as God sees it, viewing reality through the lens of divine revelation. Our choices are shaped by what we believe is real and true, right and wrong, good and beautiful. Our choices are shaped by our worldview. Understanding Christianity as a total life system is absolutely essential for two reasons. First, it enables us to make sense of the world we live in and thus order our lives more rationally. Second, it enables us to understand forces hostile to our faith, equipping us to evangelize and to defend Christian truth as God's instruments for transforming culture."
In "How Now Shall We Live", Chuck Colson teaches how to study worldview. Every worldview can be analyzed by the way it answers three basic questions: Where did we come from, and who are we (creation)? What has gone wrong with the world (fall)? And what can we do to fix it (redemption)? These three questions form a grid that we can use to break down the inner logic of every belief system or philosophy that we encounter, from the textbooks we read in the classrooms to the philosophies that shape the messages we hear on our favorite TV shows. This grid can be a powerful tool to help us frame a biblical worldview on any subject, from arts to athletics, from government to science, from family to eduction, from the marketplace to popular culture.
As disciples of Jesus, I pray the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven would be given to us. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance (Matthew 13:11-12). In Matthew 13:16, Jesus says, "But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear." Like, Paul, James, Peter and John, I want to see the Lord and hear His words.
Stay tuned for a list of the different worldviews and a new homework assignment. I hope you are reading "How Now Shall We Live". If so, I am confident you are not only enjoying this book, but becoming better equipped to think like the Master. A mind is a terrible thing to waste! May God bless your study and devotion to Him.
1 comment:
The greatest revelation any human can experience is a paradigm worldview shift that simultaneously and dramatically exposes God's utter, holy seperation and our total depravity. This personal rediscovery that relates to the first major historical event in human history (the fall of man) is an essential sine quo non to salvation. Evidence of true salvation, based on this sine quo non which forces one to throw themselves upon the cross, becomes evident in a continual, lifelong desire for the reading and hearing of the Scriptures.
The global culture today is violently opposed to this worldview because it seems misanthropic as well as condemnatory of the majority who refuse to look upon all mankind's universal, sinful depravity living inside them. It's a smooth thing which says we can know good and evil , and yet only leave us to infer we would be able to distinguish the two. One must have the omniscience of God to tell the difference in every situation, which is why choosing knowledge was a disastrous choice. Satan gave half the truth concerning being 'like God' and ommitted the other important details, just as he said Eve would not surely die (she didn't, at first). Being 'like' God renders us rather insufficiently prepared to juggle good and evil.
Satan's dialogue with Eve in Genesis contains the most cleverly deceptive words ever uttered.
Adam (agoldman@lpemail.com)
Post a Comment