Worldliness us not a matter of things 9 of do ing this and not doing that . Worldliness is a matter of the attitude of the heart 9 the attitude of life in thinking and dealing with things .
W hat does Christian separation mean? Your ef fectiveness as a Christian hangs on your con cept of what separation means, and perhaps most all of our personal and church problems would be solved if we get a biblical concept of what separa tion really is. This question of separation has been a bone of contention among Christians for many, many years, and although I believe that the Scrip tures are very clear on the matter, still I’m sure that we’re not going to solve all the contention in this article. But we do want to look at it very plainly. It's interesting that you don’t read very far in the New Testament without becoming aware of some very pointed warnings to Christians concerning their danger from the world around them. Second Corinthians 6:14 is a very well-known passage: “ Be not unequally yoked together with un believers. . . .” And then it goes on, “ Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord . . . and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” These words, “ come out from among them, and be ye separate” have been nailed to the masthead of many denominations and church groups as the one idea that Christians need to heed in these days. Then we have that very strong passage in I John
2:15-17, “ Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. . . . For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” Then James comes out with probably the strong- et word along this line saying very flatly and very plainly, “ Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” Now that’s very plain language, and as we read these passages, we begin to realize that there's some thing dangerous about the world, the world's ways and the world’s thinking. Christians rightly have taken these passages very seriously. They have thought that the Lord would not speak so plainly if there were not something to be warned against. They’ve remembered the sad words of Paul when he had to write about one of his own young men who traveled with him: "Demas hath for saken me, having loved this present world.” Christians have realized that a worldly Christian is a useless Christian. He's no good to the world and he's no good to God. Neither gets any good out of him at all.
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THE KING’S BUSINESS
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