By David ReayWednesday 1 Oct 2014LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read 1 Corinthians 5:9-10
In my previous letter I said,”Don’t mix with the immoral.” I didn’t mean,of course,that you were to have no contact at all with the immoral of this world,nor with any cheats or thieves or idolaters-for that would mean going out of the world altogether! (JBP)
It is very common for those who become Christians to gradually be cut off from those who are not. It can be possible,for example,for a Christian pastor to have grown up in a Christian home,attended a Christian school,taught at a similar school,attend Bible college,and then enter a paid ministry position.
This in no way renders such an individual incapable of understanding the mindset of the world at large. But it can mean that person has little first-hand understanding of living in a world hostile or indifferent to Christian norms. Such a person can immerse themselves in the in-house vocabulary of the Christian community,be so absorbed in its thought forms that other ways of thinking and acting are only dimly grasped.
Paul reminds the Corinthians that cutting themselves off from the unbelieving world is not only undesirable but impossible. Those who have lived in what can be called ‘Christian bubbles’ are to make special efforts to escape the bubble and realise that their norms are not the norms of society at large.
By all means let us embrace our Christian contexts and be thankful for them. But they are never meant to be bubbles but rather springboards from which to engage our world.
Blessings
David Reay