“If we belong to Jesus and Jesus is the creator of all things and the Savior of all things, then we get the world, the whole world belongs to us. So we should be the best friends and we should love people”
Professor Michael Wittmer, author of , shares how we can follow Christ in a not-yet-redeemed world.
This doesn’t mean we have to agree with sin, but we are held accountable to love other people as Christ first loved us.
“Jesus did not participate in evil, but Jesus spent a lot of time with sinners, some bad people”
Jesus was judged and mocked for the time he spent with sinners, and yet, was able to show people a valuable lesson throughout every encounter on earth.
How do we handle the tension between the pleasures of heaven and earth?
“We must distinguish between nouns and verbs, between things and actions. The Bible is never against things, the Bible is against sin. We can we can affirm the good things, the stuff, that God made even as we fight this simple perversion.”
We need to focus more on how we are to act towards others, and it’s not about simply saying ‘well if I am going to follow Christ that I have to write off these 14 things that I used to do.’ It’s also a call to take a stand for Jesus and not participating in something that we don’t agree with.
“It’s the actions that we can’t support”
By taking up our cross daily and asking for God’s help to remove the sin out of our lives, we are taking a stand against sinful desires in this world too.
“Do not conform to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds.” Romans 12:2
Michael shares advice on how to renew our minds from sinful desires, such as pornography;
“Pornography: That’s the fallen parity, that perversion, of what prior good? Sex. God’s gift of sex. So we need to ask, ‘How can I my present condition, celebrate that? Affirm that focus on God’s good gift?’ And the perversion, the parity, the distortion, will be much less attractive.”
So, can we become a worldly saint and still experience joy? Yes! After all, God is the creator of joy!
