I was asked to write an article about being in the world but not of it. The question comes from 2 Cor. 10:3.which says we should be in the world, not of it. As I was thinking about what all this means and how to live in such a way, I am flooded with thoughts of all this passage entails. I am no scholar by any means, but I can write about what I feel this verse is saying. I believe what the author of the verse is really trying to say is that the standards we live by should not the standard of this world and how they say we should live. Instead, our standards should be the higher standards we have from Scripture no matter how unfashionable or politically incorrect it may seem.

I know the question being asked was more, “how do we live in this world and not be of it. How do we do that?” How do we live in this world and especially this country with all it’s distractions, hobbies, pleasures, and indulgences and not be of it? I like to think of illustrations to help understand Scriptures. Pastor Jeff mentioned a great illustration of this verse recently. He said it’s like a boat on a lake. In thinking about it, wow, what a great illustration. Picture a boat on a lake. We are the boat and the world is the lake. We are in the lake but are to float above it on the water. Though we are on the lake, we are not of it. The danger comes when water (the world) starts getting in the boat (our lives). The boat starts to slow, becomes less maneuverable and functions less and less as the boat was intended to perform. If the boat takes on too much water, it will sink and become part of the lake. It will sink to the very bottom, invisible to anyone looking onto the lake. O.K., we get that, but how do we keep the water from coming into our boat?

Well since this is nearly the end of the month and this was suppose to be April’s article, I will give my answer to that in May’s article.