The Lord is busy talking to me about things I do that I shouldn’t do, as well as things that I don’t do and that I am actually supposed to do. This has nothing to do with whether I go to heaven or not. Jesus already paid the price for that on the cross.

Yet we are commanded to live as children of the light. Yes, we are in the world. This is where we live. We get our hard-earned money in the salt mines and walk home tired to rest at night – all part of the world.

When we’re in the world like this, it’s hard not to be swallowed up by the world. The world’s rules are different from God’s rules. In the world, it’s about how important you are. It’s about your car and your house and your status.

In the world, it hardly bothers people if they step on others. Well, actually, the people of the world feel nothing for others. I see every day how people simply look away and ignore people in need.

The world makes them that way, but when a bunch of lost people end up walking around with no purpose and no place, everyone else wonders where they came from. Well, the world made them that way and then rejected them because they didn’t fit in.

At least I’m not that bad, and I’m sure you aren’t either. Yet we have to check where the world has swallowed us up and where we do things the way the world wants us to. And no, I’m not saying we should sell up and hide in a desert from the world.

We just need to see where we’ve gotten too caught up in worldly things. Remember, we are in the world, but not of the world. We are of God’s world. We just pitched a temporary tent here.

It is for us that Peter writes his letters: ²… God the Father has his eye on each of you, and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus.

When God chooses someone, when God chooses us, we’re no longer caught up in worldly things. Then it’s no longer important to us how thick our wallets are. Then the clothes are not my priority, and even less the sneakers I wear.

But wait. Does this mean that if I drive a nice car and live in a nice and cosy house, I am moving away from God? Am I not allowed to dream and save for nice clothes? Am I no longer allowed to go on that nice dream vacation?

For sure, we may want these things. For sure, we can work hard for it and walk away with the reward in the end.

Instead, the verse encourages us not to put worldly things at the centre of our lives. God must be in the middle. Everything we do must be God-centred.

So, when you wonder if you should do something, ask yourself if God is central to your life or if the world is calling you. Make sure that God drives everything you do and that the world is not in sight.

Scripture
1 Peter 1:1-2

Reflection
Where do worldly things seem to take centre stage in your life?
Where does it seem as if God is not in the middle?
How can you change it?

Prayer
Father, I’m easily absorbed by worldly things. I know I often do things where I don’t want You around. Please help me to put You above all else. Amen.