Worldliness

So I don't entirely know what I'm writing, but I am writing to hopefully encourage or remind myself that I want to think about this more. Well, the topic is worldliness. I was in small group this evening and Strauder talked about worldliness. I assumed it was going to be the standard talk about not living like the non-worldly people around us and making sure to watch your actions, etc... But he started off with an activity where we were to mark things worldly or not. This was going to be extremely easy...I'm a Christian. Well, here were some of the things on the list:
- Drinking Beer
- Mixed Swimming
- Wearing Lipstick
- Listening to Marilyn Manson
- Striving for Church Membership Goals
- Wearing Nice Dress at Church
- Nightclubs
- Smoking
- Running a Red Light
- Buying a Car
- Missing Church to Watch Sporting Events
- Hanging Out w/ Worldly People
- Playing Golf
- Dancing
- Playing Cards
- Video Games
- Watching Ultimate Fighting on TV
- Watching "Sex and the City"
- Going to Work Happy Hours
- Striving for a Job Promotion

(Ok, so I listed all of them.) But when I began looking at just about each of these...it became difficult to put them into categories. I, as a Christian, like things to be black and white, like people to be in or out, like things to be clear cut, like things to be right and wrong. However, in the world we live in, in the complex world God created, that is just not entirely possible.

In our world, anything listed up there would be normal. But something that stayed with me from Brandon's talk last Sunday was that we, as Christians, are not called to live normally. Jesus did not live a normal life. I, as a Christian, try to fit in with the world. I try to do things a little differently, because I am a Christian, but if an objective person were to look at my life from the outside, would they see much difference. (I think in certain areas, he would, but I can list many more where I look exactly the same.) I participate in the same activities, I think the same thoughts, I have the same fears, I like the same things, I say the same things, I live a lot of the same life. However, as a Christian, I should really stand out, I believe. Not in a bad way, per se, but in a way so that people see that I am truly different. I should live in a way that makes people curious as to why I act differently. What is different about me? I can tell you what's different about me...JESUS!

I've thought about most of this before; however, for some reason when I thought about it tonight in regards to the word "Worldly" it seems to resonate differently. What in the world does worldly mean? Christians, I, use it all the time, even to my eventual disgust. (I don't know if that's valid or not, but for some reason, I have begun to not like words like "worldly" or "lost". I am not entirely sure why. I think because many times they are used as blanket terms that sound good in Christian eyes. However, when I really think about them, like the word "worldly" tonight, I begin to wonder....."What in the world does that really mean anyway? What is worldliness? What does it look like to be worldly?")

So looking at the list Strauder made, I thought about the day I had today. I wondered what actions of mine were worldly today. (Or rather because I don't like to think too much, I thought, I really should think about what I've done today and try to analyze if the things I did today were worldly or Godly. I haven't actually done that.) And sometimes I, as a Christian, can try to analyze things too much or rather I should analyze something too much, but I'll do it later. I wonder what God wants me to do?-

Asking that questions sort of hit me...why don't I always ask that question? Should I need to ask that question as often as it seems I need to? Or because I "am spending daily time with God and know His character" should I already know what he wants me to do? Regardless of the answers to those questions, my definition of whether an activity is worldly or not might should be, does God want me doing this? And maybe instead of asking if something is worldly, maybe I should be asking if something is sinful (missing the mark)?

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A couple of hours later...
I was reading 1 Samuel. I ran across this passage, 1 Samuel 8:19-20:

But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles."

I found this interesting because I think this is what we do today. We choose not to acknowledge God as our King. We identify ourself more with the world around us instead of with the Kingdom of God. We want men to fight our battles, and we don't want God to fight them or we don't let God fight them. We want to be accepted by the world instead of by God. We don't want to be different.

I just thought that was interesting.