I have been teaching a series at our church called, “Your New Life in Christ”, exploring and highlighting the fullness of our new life in Jesus Christ. The scripture, 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here”. The Christian faith goes beyond just attending church meetings or doing “Christian things”. It should permeate every area of our lives: our desires, thoughts, affections and ultimately our actions.
Worldliness which is defined as “being overly concerned with material values or ordinary life rather than spiritual existence” is one of the main threats to this new life that we have in Christ. The bible defines worldliness as “…conforming to the pattern of this world….” (extract from Romans 12:2). Its threat is quite subtle and may go unnoticed by the believer who is worldly. It takes a constant comparison of our lives to the word of God to highlight its symptoms.
The ultimate aim of worldliness in the life of a believer is to turn their affections away from God and to make them deny the faith, like Demas in the bible (2 Timothy 4:10).
As believers, let us move away from worldliness by renewing our minds with the word of God (Romans 12:2) so that we can finish our Christian race with joy.