THE CELEBRATION OF BEING - PART I

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  WORLDVIEW   a comprehensive conception or apprehension of the world especially from a specific standpoint.  

​WORLDVIEW: everybody has one. What’s mine? Can I articulate it? Is it determined by my place of birth? Is it simply what I absorbed growing up in a particular home, neighborhood, and country? Is it skewered by the media source I choose to feed it with? 

OR…

Did I acquire my worldview through my own objective investigation? Has it been healing and revelatory to witness the work of the Holy Spirit in its development? 

It is important. It determines how I choose to live: whether from a mutated, reactionary stance to the world around me or from a purposeful, consistent approach, always in agreement with my largest reasons for living.

A worldview worthy of the name should strive to be... about the world. Which, when I think about it, covers more than the planet I inhabit and the air I breathe. COSMOS is as inclusive as you can get: the totality of existence… the entire created universe. A worldview must extend beyond village, tribe, gang or country.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, I embrace a worldview that parts company with all other worldviews. I take the Bible as my guide. I accept the centrality of the incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ—God the Son—as foundational to the story of humanity.

During his interview with Pontius Pilate, Jesus threw the world’s definitions of “kingdom” out the window: 

John 18:33-37
33  Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?"
34  Jesus answered him, "Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?"
35  Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?"
36  Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here."
37  Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."

Jesus said he was a king, but his home address was not anywhere on earth. He was born with a purpose, but it had nothing to do with staking out a territory and arming servants to defend it. He did have servants, but they were not asked to fight… quite the opposite: "...love your enemies, bless those who curse you…” (Matthew 5:44) He came to bear witness to the truth, but it did not entail taking sides, bearing arms, or destroying his enemies.

Developing and applying a Christian worldview is an essential part of our sanctification as believers, our growth in godliness, and spiritual maturity.
James Anderson Feb 26 2016 

Few would disagree with Mr. Anderson’s statement. Yet, my worldview seems to differ from the worldview of many others. We use similar words and Bible verses to define it, but something happens between defining and applying that is increasingly more perplexing.

Maybe our definition of God’s earthly kingdom and its legitimate activity needs fleshed out more completely. We easily drift from the center into ditches we would do better to avoid. We understand readily enough that God is bigger than all of us. His will is carried out from generation to generation. His plan covers the world… and it includes all of humanity. Yet, in the way we perceive and interact with the world around us, our default mode is still aggressively tribal… a quite un-Christian response.

The next few posts will be an effort to focus on what I think is a more consistent worldview, particularly in its application. I hope to provoke thought and a healthier kind of conversation. Above all, I pray our witness be bathed in the love and unspeakable joy that should overflow from the center of our inner habitat,

which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.  (Colossians 1:27)

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