Why worldliness is rampant in the church

No, it’s not “probably fine”

Years ago I took my car in for an oil change and checkup, when the mechanics strongly encouraged me to have them install a new timing belt.

Though I knew the car needed it eventually, it was the holidays; expenses were piling up, and I figured the ol’ horse could make it through until January.

“It’s probably fine,” I told myself.

Cut to vacation two weeks later, where I stood on the side of I-65 in Birmingham, unloading suitcases from a car that would never run again.

Oops.

“It’s probably fine,” didn’t work out too well, did it?

And yet we can easily fall into living most of our lives with this kind of nonchalance. We can go through life living exactly the way the world teaches us to live, all while operating under an unconscious assumption: “it’s probably fine.”

It’s probably fine to approach my marriage the way the world does. It’s probably fine to raise my kids the way the experts say. It’s probably fine to watch the entertainment everybody else does. It’s probably fine to let my parents and grandparents decide what I believe. It’s probably fine to…

(Check out my previous post for a more detailed list of examples, as this article serves as a part 2 of sorts).

We must realize two truths:

First, God has something to say about all of these things. Second, we’re not very good at realizing it.

In 1 Corinthians 2 Paul explained that doing things God’s way is far from our default setting: “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (2:14).

We have to understand that thinking like Christians and living Spirit-guided lives does not come naturally to us. In fact, quite the opposite. We don’t have to be trained to be worldly, but we do have to be trained to discern what is good and what is evil (Hebrews 5:14).

The biggest thing keeping us from this spiritual maturity is that we don’t think to ask God. We assume the way we go through life is “probably fine.”

Every Christian needs to understand this from the minute they come out of the water: you cannot trust your instincts. Until you’ve put in the time of study, prayer, and fellowship, you aren’t mature enough to know what’s fine and what’s not.

Therefore, you can’t assume. You have to constantly ask what God would have you do. Ask the Scriptures. Ask God for guidance. Ask mature Christians for direction.

This is why so much worldliness is in the church today—not because Christians are actively trying to be worldly and buck God’s authority. Rather, because we’re worldly by nature and don’t even know it. We assume God is indifferent to our choices. We assume Jesus doesn’t want to be Lord of those parts of our lives.

Until we learn to stop trusting ourselves and start walking by faith, we will continue to carry the worldly stench of death.

And, church leaders have to have the courage to tell their members when the members aren’t mature enough to exercise spiritual discernment. Letting people coast through life on “it’s probably fines” is easier, but it’s costing us.

Consider your own life. What areas have you forgotten to check with God? In what ways are you coasting on worldly-minded autopilot while subconsciously saying “It’s probably fine?”

If you want to mature as a Christian, take regular stock of the things you do according to this metric. Don’t ever assume God doesn’t care about something. Ask Him.

And as you do, you’ll start to see things as He sees them until you grow so in tune with the Spirit that you know what it means when Paul says, “We have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16).

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