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Worldviews

What Glasses are you Wearing?

I've always loved the sad honky-tonk song, "Rose Colored Glasses," co-written and recorded by country music singer Jon Conlee back in the late 70's. The song is about a problematic relationship, but instead of dealing with or confronting the problems, he looks through his 'rose colored glasses,' which hides the truth of the situation and makes everything look fine on the surface. Even though he is trying to live in a delusion, he is still hurt by the betrayal of his loved one. There are people living each day with heartache and unresolved animosity, who long for the day when they can put their rose colored glasses aside and experience true peace, love and hope. Harsh words and behaviors really hurt a person. King David in the Bible was very familiar with such issues. Saul tried to kill him, David committed adultery with another man's wife, then had him killed, David's son led a coup against him, and there was horrific strife within his family. In spite of all of this, David was known as a man after God's own heart. He had a different way of dealing with hardships in

his life. He took them to the Lord in prayer. As we read in Psalm 4:48, David poured out his heart to God and cried, "Hear me when I call, oh God." David had every reason to be angry, but he had no reason to sin. He reminded himself not to sin in his anger, but to find solace in meditation before the Lord by being still, offering sacrifices of righteousness and trusting in the Lord. When troubles arise, do you ignore them or wish they would just go away, or do you earnestly take them to the Lord in prayer? How do you view the world you live in? Your beliefs and perspectives of the world produces

action and shapes human culture and this is what defines your worldview. What are your basic beliefs? Your worldview defines your answers to such questions as, "Is abortion wrong? What happens when you die? Why is kindness important? What and who do you love?" A person's worldview tells the story of where we came from, how we got here, and why we're here. A Christian worldview is based on God's unchanging Word. It is built on Scripture that includes creation, fall and redemption. This foundation enables believers to apply scriptural principles to everyday life. The Bible determines and defines right from wrong, morality from immorality and the believer views all worldly aspects through the filter of the Bible. It acknowledges that God is the author of the Bible and Creator of everything in heaven and earth. It is having confidence in the ability of Christ to save us, filling us with hope. Having a biblical worldview changes how we react to circumstances and major events in the world and in our lives. It provides a lens for believers to consider their culture and their lives through a biblical lens and to look to Christ to show us how to live righteously. It determines how we respond to traffic, or wait in line at the grocery store. A Christian will respond with trust in God's wisdom after a disaster, whereas someone else would be shaken pretty badly. A Christian relies on a biblical worldview to prioritize their time and money, to raise their family,

Worldviews

and respond to hurtful words and comments. A secular worldview teaches that one's beliefs are a matter of personal preference and are not based on absolute truth, meaning the Bible. It holds that there is nothing but natural elements, principles and relations studied by natural sciences and believes that our personal truth is determined by our upbringing and culture. It believes that absolute truth only suppresses and oppresses the world. Basically, good and bad decisions are defined by who God is and what He has revealed to us in Scripture about how we should live. A Christian knows that submission to God's moral law is the only path to true liberty and peace, while secular ethics is being thrown at us in almost every waking moment through public education, media, legislation and insists that right verses wrong is just a personal preference. But somehow, the darkness and despair that secularism brings lingers on through its uncaring propaganda. Biblical and secular visions run at odds with each other. Sadly, the spiritual condition of someone holding a secular worldview is dark and no amount of policy, money, medicine, emotion or education can illuminate it. Christ alone changes hearts because He alone took the sins of the world and nailed them to the cross when He died for you and me. That's the good news of the gospel...it's inclusive of all people. We are to love everyone, to be a representative of God Himself, to carry on with the ministry of love and forgiveness inspired by Jesus Christ. So, we are to forgive those who don't believe the way we do, because they need the same forgiveness we have in Christ, but they just don't know it yet. They haven't figured out what 'truth' is. It is our job, as Christians, to go and tell the world about the saving grace of Jesus Christ. We also need to be mindful that our personal worldview can become deeply affected by the world through media and other influences. We need to be diligent in living the truth of God so that our witness will not be confusing and misleading.

"Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Romans 12:2)

WOOD Ministries