“His work has changed our lives.”
“His message could change the world”
I recently visited a Muslim country for the first time in my life. It’s interesting to think through how to live as a Christian in a society where everyone around you is (or seems to be) worshipping the same god.
We were reminded continuously, every day, that we were different – and that the gospel of Jesus Christ is so much better. I don’t mean this in an arrogant way – it’s God’s gospel, not mine. But having the free gift of forgiveness, paid for by a perfect Saviour, is so wonderfully sweet: especially compared to having to earn it, and never being assured that you’ve done enough.
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.
Coming back to the UK, things aren’t so ‘black and white.’ People around us don’t all worship the same god. But friends, they are surely worshipping something. They can’t help it – none of us can. Everyone worships something or someone.
“They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is for ever praised. Amen.” Romans 1:25
On Easter Monday I took my children to see ‘The King of Kings.’ Have you seen it? It’s a (very successful) animated movie about the life of Jesus. It was surreal to be sitting in a London cinema, waiting to watch a film about Jesus, made by a Christian production company. I wondered if the trailers would be ‘normal.’ They were.
One of the trailers featured David Attenborough, in which he told us the good news – good news that might save the planet, and indeed save civilisation as we know it.
“If we save the sea, we save our world.”
As Attenborough spoke about this, the statements right at the top of this blog post came up on the screen. We were being invited to pay homage to David Attenborough.
Meanwhile, he was explaining that we could be the saviours of the world. Or is it the sea? It’s either ourselves or the natural world that we should be worshipping. It’s slightly confusing, but it’s one of those two for sure.
I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t look after the ocean. But as Christians we need to be on our guard against idolatry.
If someone follows an ‘organised religion’ like Islam, it’s easier to remember that we’re worshipping different gods. But we might find it harder to remember that our secular friends are also worshipping a different god.
Sometimes we can admire people’s devotion to something. But even while we do that we should notice that what they are doing may be an act of worship to their god.
Usually people don’t preach their idolatry quite as clearly as the cinema trailer did. So we need to be careful that when we’re watching and reading stuff, we’re aware of what we’re being invited to worship. And we should help our children with that, too. Let’s not assume that family movies are idol-free and worldview-neutral. Everything has a worldview. (In this case I just leaned over and said to my kids, ‘I think they’re confused between Jesus and David Attenborough.’)
I say this not to panic anybody but more as an encouragement that in the gospel we have freedom, and we should remember that and enjoy it.
We don’t need to get up at 5am to pray to The Lord, but we can if we want to.
We don’t need to use paper straws, but we can if we want to.
We don’t need to run a marathon, but we’re free to do that.
We don’t have to homeschool our children, but we are free to choose.
The only thing we need is to worship and trust in Christ alone.
Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.’
Mum in Zone One 