As we read, watch and listen to events currently taking place in the world around us, what are we learning? Are we able to inculcate spiritual values and lessons from the physical? The world, in general, is unable to determine spiritual values due to the absence of God’s Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:11). However, we can understand because God’s Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God (verse 10).
The following quote was published a week ago: “Everything happening in Ukraine right now is happening because human beings are willing to fight for it, to bend the arc of history. What would happen if we could be stirred to care about causes bigger than ourselves, our comforts, our reputations, what comes up when we Google ourselves? If we are the home front of the free world—and I believe we are and must be—what are the principles that should guide us? What are the things worth fighting for?”
This is a physical estimation of a current event. We should read that and ask ourselves the same questions. Are we being forcefully guided by godly principles? Are we prepared to fight for God’s way of life in a godless world? (see Ephesians 6:10-18). Are we stirred by causes bigger than ourselves? (see Matthew 6:33). These are tough but essential questions to people living in a deeply self-centered society.
Self-deception is the name of Satan’s game, and it is entirely possible to be so wrapped up in all the “issues” of the physical that the spiritual can get short-shift.
Here is a perfect example. The Barna Group has just released its first 2022 Worldview Inventory, which analyzed “the worldview dilemma of American parents.” Quoting from the report – “ Barna warns 6 out of 10 US parents don’t view the Bible as a ‘reliable and accurate source of God’s truth’… . According to the report, a biblical worldview “emerges from accepting the Bible as a relevant and authoritative guide for life.” Among the two-thirds of parents who identify as Christian, just 4% of them possessed a biblical worldview. A parent’s primary responsibility is to prepare a child for the life God intends for that child, … A crucial element in nurturing is helping the child develop a biblical worldview — the filter that causes a person to make their choices in harmony with biblical teachings and principles.” … Shockingly few parents intentionally speak to their children about beliefs and behavior based upon a biblical worldview, Barna said. Perhaps the most powerful worldview lesson parents provide is through their own behavior, yet our studies consistently indicate that parental choices generally do not reflect biblical principles or an intentionally Christian approach to life.”
A worldview is a collection of attitudes, values, stories, and expectations about the world around us, which inform our every thought and action. (Dictionary definition).
The obvious question is – what informs our every thought and action? A worldview or a biblical worldview? Is the Bible our relevant and authoritative guide to life? The two takes I have on the Barna report are 1) We must prepare the younger generation in a biblical worldview, and 2) We are the children of God who must possess a living example of a biblical worldview.
“You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients because I keep Your precepts. I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep Your word” (Psalm 119: 98-101). This is a very good description of a biblical worldview.
The world’s media can supply a lot of information, but none of it reveals the law or truth of God in a spiritual sense. It can form a strong worldview if we allow it. Our lives are to reflect a biblical perspective formed by diligently drinking in God’s words from the Bible. It becomes a relevant and authoritative guide for life when we fill our minds with it.
“Whoever listens to me will dwell safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil” (Proverbs 1:33).
Brian Orchard
