For those of us who have had the opportunity to spend time in a third world country, we know how startling the differences can be. There’s even a word for it. Culture shock. The differences between what we are accustomed to and our new environment are so dramatic that we cannot absorb them all at once.
We are aware we do not belong, and we cannot get past that.
As Christians, we should feel that way every day. The differences between the world and the lifestyle taught by Jesus should be so dramatically different that we cannot make the two mesh together.
Daniel 7:1-28 takes place in the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon. Daniel had a dream of a lion with eagle’s wings, and it was given the mind of a man. He also saw three other beasts equally bizarre. Each one was terrifying and brought great changes upon the earth.
Culture shock. What Daniel dreamed was not of this world.
Revelation 13:1-18 tells of a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads. Another beast with the voice of a dragon joined it, marking both great and small with the number of its name.
Did we say culture shock? John’s vision was even weirder than Daniel’s.
John 18:36 invokes the words of Jesus. “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
How odd is that? Jesus had followers who could have fought to free him, and they chose a different path. They chose to let him be crucified. What was that all about?
We find our answer in Luke 1:35. The story is Mary’s, but the truth is ours. “And the angel answered her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.’ ”
Jesus was not of this world. He came from heaven to earth – Culture shock! – to offer humanity a different path. He came to offer us a changed life through his death on the cross, and eternal life through belief in his deity.
Jesus did not belong on this earth, for to him, it was a third world country. Yet, he refused to war against those who were against him. Instead, he invoked love and compassion and tolerance.
That, above all else, showed that he was truly not of this world. When the world questions us about Jesus, we can point them to the truth found in John 3:6. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
We are in this world, but when we come to Christ, we are no longer of this world. When we understand that, the phrase “culture shock” takes on a whole new meaning.
The born-again believer is not of this world, so don’t be surprised when we don’t feel at home in this world.
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