World Views

I've always wondered what God meant by 'You are not of this world'. 

A few weeks ago I went to a Christian writers conference and had a total blast. I could talk about God and life as a Christian because everyone else there was a Christian. I could hug a woman and not be thought of as gay, talk to those around me when something I'd heard touched me spiritually, and vent at why none of us had a million dollar best-selling book. Yet.

It. Was. Awesome.

I came home to the normal chaos, and felt at peace with God and family. I looked for local meet-ups for writers and got very excited when I saw one very close to my house. Off I went with great hopes of making new writing friends, Christian or not.

Things went downhill the moment I walked into the room. 

There were no introductions. The hostess of the meet-up turned this social event into a creative writing class. There was no mention of a class beforehand- it was supposed to be us writers getting to know each other- even if there were only five us.

When I mentioned I was a Christian, the room was silent. Painfully silent- like I'd said I had the plague. I assured everyone I wouldn't go swatting them with my Bible (especially since I didn't have one with me). No one would speak to me after that, and I wound up leaving 'class' because it was going to be three hours long with just creative writing- meaning she gave us an idea, and we wrote a story. Ugh.

I came away from the experience not even knowing a single person's name.

I'm beginning to understand what God meant by "You are not of this world.' We aren't. We are God's children, and people notice that. Sometimes that works in our favor, and often times it doesn't. We have a different view of the world because we know this isn't the end-all-be-all of life. There's something more after we leave here, and there's a great comfort in that.

People are so afraid to talk to us for fear of conversion (brainwashing), reprimand (We are clean while you are a dirty sinner), or life might change (because sin is fun and you like it that way).

And that is a world view. And yes, there are those few Christians that do act like that. But for the most part, all we want to do is let others know the love of God, and that we are with Him not because we are so sparkling clean, but we are covered in grime just like the rest of the world- we just know where the clean water is so we can get a decent bath!

As for sin? We all do it, that's why we're no longer in Eden. We were born into it, and sometimes revel in it, but we all want to be free of it. Maybe that's what makes us so different- we know there's freedom from it with God. Maybe not in this lifetime, but definitely when He calls us home. 

And that is the best view of the world you could ever have.