How Do You Know the Difference?

This is part of a series. Check it out.

So have we cuddled up the world so tight that we no longer see a difference between Christianity and the world. Do we think there should be a difference?

Well, Jesus certainly thought there should be and it wasn’t based on some phony concept of love your neighbor (although that was part of it) or turn the other cheek (that was part of it too). His words, recorded by His followers and then given cultural context after His death echo down to us through the centuries.

How do we tell the difference between real Christianity and syncretic phony love of the world?

It has to happen, as does salvation, on an individual level, but we can cast light from our own experience to help others. Ask yourself a few questions to evaluate whether you love the world or love God.

• Which do you seek more fervently — the wealth and honors of the world or the riches of grace and the approval of God?
• Which has a great attraction for you — the pleasures of the world, which are only for a season, or those pleasures offered by God, which are for eternity?
• Where does your confidence lay — in the money you have in your bank account or investments, or in the living and faithful God, Who has promised to supply all your needs?
• Which causes deeper sorrow for you – a temporal loss or a break in your fellowship with God?
• Do you get more joy from spending money for personal comforts and luxuries or spending money to further the gospel?
• What takes center stage in your mind — thoughts and schemes after worldly advancements or resolutions and efforts to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord?

It comes down to a basic choice.

Will you love the Father or love the world?

Most of Christians have made that choice, but we need to maintain it. Do not yield to the temptations of the world, but do the will of God … even when it is inconvenient, even when your neighbors don’t understand, even when your government threatens to ruin your life if you obey God rather than man.