Have you ever thought that you just don’t fit in? I’m sure we’ve all found ourselves at one time or another feeling ill at ease with our surroundings as though we just did not belong there. For the Christian that should be a common or recurring experience as we make our journey through this life. The Apostle Paul understood well the nature and cause of this estrangement from the world in which we live. He wrote to the Galatian believers, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Galatians 6:14).
Those in Paul’s day were well familiar with the cross. Rome had proliferated its use as a means of death. But Paul has reference to our Savior’s cross upon which he died in our place for our sins. It is through this cross that Paul was crucified unto the world and the world unto him. And this is true for every Christian.
Listen to Paul’s explanation of this phenomenon. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3-4). The Christian is a new creation created in Christ Jesus through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Our new life in Christ is in polar opposition to the world and all of its ways. The Apostle John wrote, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (I John 2:15-16). Christ prayed for his followers because they had been delivered from this world. “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:14-17).
What it boils down to is this. When Christ saved us, he made us new creations. We have new life that is not compatible with this world’s affections and pursuits, which are in opposition to all that pleases God. We are now citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20) and we “look for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:10). As we increasingly follow Christ’s word, his life in us becomes more evident. As a result, this world grows less attractive to us and the world’s hatred for our Savior as seen in us more apparent. As the old song teaches us, “This world is not my home; I’m just passing through”.
But our heavenly journey is not without an earthly purpose. Christ prayed to the Father, “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world…neither pray I also for these alone, but for them which shall believe on me through their word” (John 17:18-20). It belongs to us to testify for Christ in the paths that he has placed us that others may come to know him.
Is heaven your home? Or, are you comfortable in this present world? Are you becoming more like the Savior? Or, is his word far removed from you? In essence, are you related to Christ or to this world?
From the Chaplain 