The Necessity of a Biblical Worldview.Our worldview is the way we see ourselves in relation to the world around us…how we interpret life as the result of our personal interaction with our physical, psychological, and spiritual environment. A belief system guides every rational human being; core beliefs formed by knowledge, reinforced by time and experience, which define our attitude toward life.
While it is essential to understand the causes responsible for the present decline of the Church’s cultural influence (the ongoing spiritual insurgency and resultant doctrinal retreat), our mindset is the pivotal factor. Our worldview determines the depth of our commitment and effectiveness. How we see ourselves and relate to the times in which we live impacts our priorities, thus governing the choices and commitments we make.
“The world is for all of us not only what it is …it is what we believe it to be.” A.W. Tozer
Besides our personal view of the world, two other critical perspectives inform and shape our spiritual lives: our God view and our self-view. Our view of God relates to how we perceive God on a personal level and our perception of His being, personality, and attributes. An unbalanced or distorted view of God’s attributes is responsible for the widespread (though false) belief that God, being all-loving, would never send anyone to Hell. While it is true that God is loving, kind, and merciful, He is also perfectly holy, just, and righteous; therefore, any failure on God’s part to judge sin would invalidate His justice and undermine His righteousness. God is a perfectly balanced Being, and our understanding of His immutable character and attributes, the basis of His moral laws and decrees, is essential to communicate His mandate to mankind.
The contemporary, one-sided, politically correct gospel, which places total emphasis on the love of God outlined in John 3:16 (“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”), purposely excludes the penalty of rejecting God’s mercy declared in the same chapter: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him”(John 3:36). This deadly deception is responsible for untold thousands of false conversions. Souls who are then adequately immunized to the true gospel.
Our self-view concerns awareness of our individual role and responsibility as the “redeemed of the LORD” ( Ps. 107:2); our part in God’s plan for the redemption of humanity. We must see ourselves as God does, that is, as new creatures “in Christ” because the way we see ourselves is the way we live our lives. As it has been in every generation for Christians to stand fast and overcome their enemies, they, themselves, must see God and “this present evil world” (Gal. 1:4) through unblurred eyes.
We are naturally inclined to become comfortable in this temporal world, forgetting that this present world is not our home. Although we are in the world, we are no longer of the world. Jesus said: “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:14). It is crucial to maintain a pilgrim’s attitude, remembering that this world is not our home; we are just passing through. “For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come” (Heb. 13:14).
But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:16)
We have a life in this world but must take care that this world doesn’t become our life.If this passing world is everything to us, then our lives will revolve around the world and not the Lord.
Peace with God equals War with the Devil
In truth, our salvation is a proclamation of peace with God and a declaration of war against the devil. In a split second, when God’s Spirit joined to our spirit (1 Cor. 6:17), we became combatants in the age-old struggle between good and evil, light, and darkness. Therefore, in actuality, the second birth is the birth of an ambassador/soldier: ambassador in the sense of being citizens of Heaven temporarily living in this world. Representatives of the world to come with a message of hope for the world that is. Soldiers in that our mission involves a spiritual struggle “not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). Like it or not, upon salvation, we were recruited into God’s army, perhaps unwittingly; nevertheless, we became participants of a fierce battle.
Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
2 Timothy 2:3-4, [emphasis added]
Excerpt from “Spiritual Understanding in the Last days” A.W. Weckeman. Amazon
A.W. Weckeman
