The World

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. Ephesians 2:1-2

When Paul writes to the Ephesians about the enemy of “the world,” he doesn’t mean the physical earth or its people. God says his created world is very good (Genesis 1:31) and that he loves the world (its people) so much that he sent Jesus to die for them (John 3:16). Rather, Paul refers to culture that redefines good and evil and calls it normal.

We, too, experience the pull of the world. Our society normalizes behaviors and beliefs that oppose God’s truth. In American history, society normalized slavery, which was opposed to God’s truth that all human beings are made in his image and worthy of dignity. We feel pressure today to conform to the world’s view on sexuality, which distorts God’s gift and design for sexuality in marriage between one man and one woman. We battle the world’s view on materialism, which opposes God’s truth that the love of money is “a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). The world’s values can seep into our thinking, and we may not recognize how they reshape us. Jesus calls his followers to live differently from the world. He sends us into the world to share the hope he offers through the gospel.

TODAY: Pray for discernment to recognize worldly values that feel normal and reshape how you live. Ask God to reveal how you’ve accepted things that contradict his Word. Pray: “Lord, open my eyes to see how the world has shaped me more than your Word. Give me the courage to stand firm in your truth, even when it means being countercultural. Amen.”