What about “the world”? *

For a long time, when I was trying so hard to be a good and godly person, I was taught that this world is an evil place, that I should separate myself from it and not let it influence me. I was taught that “worldliness” was a bad thing. Don’t listen to their music, don’t go to their movies, don’t let down your guard around the people of the world, lest ye get caught up in their way of thinking. There are still millions of people being taught to be suspicious of the world outside if they don’t totally agree with it and control it.
Gradually, and gratefully, I have come to believe differently concerning “the world”. I will admit that this is not very well organized, but these are just some of the things that at one time I was afraid to even think, but now I am not afraid to say. So here goes:

All truth is God’s truth, wherever it may be found. If God can speak through a donkey, as has happened at least once, He can and often does speak great spiritual truth through a person who doesn’t have his or her life together. All people are created in the divine image, and though we are flawed and sinful, we still are the objects of His love. God always has delighted in bypassing the most qualified and speaking to and through the most unworthy. If you meet a person who has an alcohol problem, or is homeless, or is in prison, or struggles with addictive behavior– listen to the cry of their heart, their desire to be free. You will likely learn something you will never hear from the typical pulpit. You will learn non-judgemental compassion. You will see humility and authenticity. In their faces you will see the face of Christ.

There is a line in the old hymn “Am I a soldier of the cross” that asks a rhetorical question “is this vile world a friend to grace, to help me on to God?” Well, friends, I know the answer is supposed to be “no”, but it CAN be yes! I have come to believe that the message and ministry of Christ is not about just staying away from the world until someday when we will be called out of it. We are to be bringing the kingdom of God into the place where we are, making it a better place to live, helping the sick and hungry and suffering, in this life, now! How sad that we have diluted this great gospel of the kingdom into “just be saved and ready to go to heaven when you die”. It is so much more than that.

There is grace all around us, if we will just look for it. Take for example, dogs. I am a huge dog-lover. If my wife would let me, I would have twenty of them. I believe that it is no accident that “dog” is “God” spelled backwards. When you are really down, nothing is more comforting than a sweet old dog who wags his tail and just wants to be with you. They give us their all in return for scraps. If a man wants to find out who is his most loyal friend in the world, try this experiment: take your wife and your dog, and lock them in the trunk of your car. Come back an hour later, and see which one is glad to see you!

Sometimes a little messenger of grace comes right to our doorstep, totally by surprise. A few months ago my wife put up a decorative bird house right beside our back door. A little wren didn’t know that it was a decoration, and has now moved in and nested. Soon there will be a complete new feathered family on our porch! The bird house hangs just five feet off the ground, but I look at it like the wren “trusted us” that we would not hurt or bother her or her new babies. And she was right. There is not enough money in the world to make me harm those little birds! It appears that a little creature who hardly weighs an ounce has helped me to find some grace even in my own heart.

If you watch the news channels on television, or listen to talk radio, you can get the impression that the world is full of crooks and murderers, that everywhere there are protests and arguments and fights, bombings and shootings and violence. I know that these things happen, and we should take them seriously, be careful, and work to try to stop it. But if you turn off the TV and go to the park, or to the beach, or to a yard sale or a concert or a coffee shop, you will find that most of this world is full of beauty and honor and friendly peace-loving people.

Yes, you can say this world is evil, and separate yourself and hide from it so that you will not be contaminated. But the greatest teacher who ever lived said that the problem is not really on the outside.

I close with these words from a Louie Armstrong song:

I see trees of green, red roses too; I see them bloom for me and for you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue and clouds of white; the bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do.They’re really saying I love you.

I hear babies crying, I watch them grow; they’ll learn much more than I’ll never know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.
Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world.

Oh yeah!