Ways to Be Worldly

There’s more than one way to be worldly. There are “heathen” ways and there are “Christian” ways. What they have in common is found in the word worldly itself: this world is at the center of their heart.

 “Heathen worldliness” is easy to spot, though its description may vary here and there. It includes the obvious things like abortion, premarital sex and sundry other sexually immoral practices. It also includes smoking cigarettes (unless you live south of the Mason Dixon line, where, I’m told, you might even find an ashtray at the end of your pew); drinking alcohol (if you’re a Southern Baptist); recreational drug use; listening to secular music (unless it’s classical), and watching movies rated higher than G (or PG, or PG-13). And let’s not forget using profanity. Oh, and the heathen worldly are Democrats (unless, of course, you are a Democrat). Humor aside, to the extent that any of these “heathen” ways are inherently sinful, Christians must avoid them.

“Heathen worldly” was once my sole definition of worldliness. If I wasn’t (currently) into those things, I could hold my head high in pretty much any church and consider myself a pretty good Christian (but because of Jesus, of course). And that’s what I tried, with occasional success, to do. And that, as it happens, was more or less what most people I knew and the entire culture I was raised in tried to do.

But there is that other kind of worldliness. “Christian” worldliness is so sneaky that you can consider yourself a very good Christian and still be one hundred percent indulged in it. In the Bible this worldliness is exemplified by the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians. They followed the rules (as they defined them). They upheld their religious traditions. They worked hard to keep their “godly” culture safe from the heathens in their midst, and, except when it served their purposes, from the interference of their heathen government. When they looked in the mirror, they were very, very pleased. And then Jesus came along:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean”. (Mt. 23:25)

“Christian worldliness” is like that. It looks clean on the outside, but inside is the dirty, greedy old self—foolish, disobedient, led astray, slave to various passions and pleasures, passing its days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating others (see Titus 3:3). This hidden worldliness is consumed by hatred and fear of anything that threatens its status, its pride, its freedoms, its pleasures and its comforts; but it hides behind the respectable garments of morality, righteous indignation, and liberty.

Jesus, however, warns us that “nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known” (Lk 12:2). It’s a promise. Our hearts will one day be exposed. Maybe it will be on the Last Day. Or maybe it will be today, when we open our mouths and the abundance of our heart comes gushing out, or when our fingers hit the keyboard, or our thumbs tap the smartphone. Or perhaps, like the Pharisees, our hearts are already exposed, but we are the only ones who haven’t noticed yet.

That’s a scary thought, but Jesus wants our attention. He doesn’t want us to stay dirty. He’s offering to make us clean, and the water He will use to wash us is the water of His word (Jn 15:3, Ep 5:26).

(This article was originally published in August 2023.)