Not Of This World

As Christians, we try to follow the path that Jesus set. We try to be like Christ since He is the perfect example. Jesus is loving, caring, wise, humble, and devoted to the Father. One thing that He is not, is of this world.

Jesus prayed to the Father in John 17:14-15 saying, “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.”

Jesus is not of the world and He says that neither should we be. He states in the above verse that we shouldn’t be removed from the world, but be kept from the evil one. We obviously have to live in this world. However, we should not be partaking of things from the world - from the devil!

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2.

We are not to conform to this world. We cannot let the world mould us. Instead, we must be moulded by the Word of God. It is not the physical things that should shape us, but the spiritual things.

We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. 1 John 5:19

We cannot be of the world because of what we read in 1 John 5:19: the world is under the sway of the wicked one! The worldly ways are sinful. Christians want to walk by the Spirit and not of the world. And one cannot do both, “for the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another” (Galatians 5:17). Worldly ways are the complete opposite of godly ways.

As humans we must be in this world, but as Christians we must not be of this world. We cannot be thinking the same way as the people of the world; We cannot be speaking like the ungodly people; We cannot be acting like the unrighteous. Christians must not be of this world!

                -- John Thrower Jr.