Living Upright in an Upside Down World
Just within the last three days, three examples of anti-Christian sentiments in the media have come across my desk. If we lived in an “upright” world, sin would be recognized as sin. Black would be black and white would be white.
Doesn’t Isaiah describe 21st century America in the following words: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes And clever in their own sight!” (5:20-21).
When Paul and his team went to Thessalonica in Acts 17, it was reported of them: “These men who have upset the world have come here also.” No, actually, Christians were trying to set the world right-side up!
But Jesus warned it would be this way. He told Pilate in John 18: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” Jesus tells us several things in this verse. His kingdom is not a physical kingdom. It deals with spiritual, invisible realities. His kingdom would receive hatred from the world. But His subjects would not fight to spread His message.
There are temptations that come with living in an anti-Christian world. The world values one set of behaviors; Christians value something different. They have their pleasures and practices. We have ours. Their relationships are based on one template and their world is filtered through that template. Christians have a completely different template. They testify of one god. We testify of Another.
If you had a brother who had fought in Vietnam (Korea, Germany, Japan, etc.) who was successful in his service, decorated, and had written down all of his thoughts and experiences and what led him to stay faithful to God while defending his country – and then you found yourself heading into combat, wouldn’t you want to know what he had learned and past on to you?
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For the next few months, we will be considering examples of our (spiritual) family from Scripture who were successful in living upright in an upside down world.
How did they maintain their faith? What did they do? What impact did they have on their ungodly surroundings? What influence did their surroundings have on them?
For example, the world in which Noah was born was a violent world. There was a lack of social cohesion and family cohesion. The world, under Cain, began urbanizing. Polygamy. All-around ungodliness.
It was a world looking for rest, as we see exhibited in Lamech’s thoughts about the birth of Noah: ““This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed” (Gen. 5:29).
In another article we’ll look at Noah’s response to this ungodly environment.
–Paul Holland
