HarmonySample

Harmony Between Believers and the World

The world is a scary place. Just look at the news and you will quickly be overwhelmed. War, conflict, and corruption are just the tip of the iceberg! It is really shocking what the human race is capable of. For many, a natural response is to distance yourself from the world. You might find yourself thinking, “What is the point of trying to save a world that will inevitably end?” But if you hold this perspective, there is a chance you might be misunderstanding what scripture says about our relationship with the world.

God does command us to live separately from the world because we have different priorities than the world (Philippians 3:20), but that does not mean we leave the world behind. God’s mission is not to have us leave this world, but for Him to return to it. The goal for all humanity is redemption through salvation in Jesus Christ. Only Christ can truly redeem the world, but He wants us to play a part in it!

Jesus was the perfect example of how we can engage with the world. In the book of Luke, we see Jesus interacting with a “less than perfect” person, Levi. Levi was a tax collector. He was known for ripping people off. How do people feel about the IRS nowadays? Levi was worse.

When Jesus met Levi and shared a meal with him, many other people questioned Jesus why he would spend so much time with a “sinner.” Jesus simply responded with his famous quote, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31-32).

We often have a natural tendency to stick to what feels safe. We usually keep our distance from people who are outside our normal comfort zone. Whenever we go into an area we are not used to, we might feel worried about what we might not know. Jesus’s interaction with Levi shows us that the people who need Him the most are not the ones in churches, but rather the ones who are committing crimes, hurting others, or living lives that distanced others from themselves.

Think about what this might look like for you. Have you ever been on the outside? What would it feel like if someone who you felt distant from because of your beliefs, political views, personality, or anything else began to engage with and genuinely want to know you? Not out of pity, but out of a genuine desire for a relationship?

Sometimes the harmony we need in the world is not with people but rather topics. We often find ourselves in the middle of conversations about politics, sexuality, gender identity, and more. These can all be divisive and controversial. God desires for us to be peacemakers in the world and to represent Him well. He has given us the Bible to test what we are hearing and to make sure it is true. We do not make assumptions about what is true based on our own feelings or on popular opinion, but rather on the Word of God. In the book of Acts, the Bible tells us about a group of people called the Bereans. It says that when they heard people preaching, “they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” When they were approached with a new or controversial subject, they went back to Scripture to examine what was true. That is a lot like what you are doing by studying these devotions!

Our goal as believers is not to impress people or to prove that we are right. Our goal is to be united with God and to help others become united as well. There are plenty of people in the world who will try to tear you down or separate you from God or others. We must remember that God brings peace, love, and justice. Just like with Levi the Tax Collector, Jesus’s goal was to restore people to Himself, not to condemn him or cast him away. The more we know God as our healer and our restorer, the more we will be able to help the rest of the world be healed and restored.

When we do find conflict in the world, a practical step to resolve it is to simply listen. There is nothing more divisive than an argument, and nothing more helpful than a discussion. Hear the other person’s thoughts, be willing to understand another point of view, weigh it against God’s word (like the Bereans), and pray that God would give you clarity, understanding, and care.

Discussion/Reflection Questions:

1. Why is it so easy to become discouraged with the world?

2. What did Jesus mean when He said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick”?

3. How would our perspective change if we viewed ourselves more like doctors and less like judges?

4. What is one area where you can help bring harmony to the world around you?