When someone accepts a job, he chooses to live in agreement with the company rules. He will arrive at work at a certain time. He will perform certain duties. In the same way, when a person gives his allegiance to Jesus, he agrees to live according to the laws and customs of God’s kingdom.
Which means that a person is now living in a world that follows its own laws and customs. And a number of those are diametrically opposed to God’s way. So, the children of God are out of sync with the world he lives in. They are strangers and aliens in the world.
God created the world, and he designed it to be a part of his kingdom. He designed people to live in his kingdom. Follow God’s ways enables us to live in sync with God. We will live in ways that produce true joy, peace, and contentment, because we are following the design specs. (You do not plug your laptop, designed to run on 110 volts, into a 220 volt outlet. Bad things will happen.)
Sometimes, people who choose to follow Jesus, and accept this truth, will block the world. They will avoid it. They will condemn it. But that’s not God’s heart either.
We need to live as a free people. We should not be caught up in the world. We should agree with, and practice God’s ways. But we are also God’s servants. We should assume the same heart, the same perspectives, the same motives, the same attitudes and practices that our Father has. He does not block off the world. He does not avoid the world. Like him, we should engage the world. We should affirm the good. We should not practice the bad. We should live the laws of the kingdom in the world … and embrace the paradoxes that result.
(For example, God says we should practice love to all people. Including our enemies. The American political scene, right now, is a good example of how not to practice this. Imagine people from opposite parties being patient, kind, speaking well of, and wanting the best for each other.)
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