Shownotes
Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 726 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
How to Shape a Biblical Worldview? – Wisdom Wednesday
Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. Today is Day 726 of our trek, and it is Wisdom Wednesday. We continue to explore new trails on how to gain wisdom this week.
Starting last week our focus is on how we can explore our trek of life through a Biblical Worldview. The first few weeks we will plot out what a Biblical Worldview is and why it is so important to interpret life through the lenses of a Biblical Worldview as a Christ follower. Once we lay the foundation, we will then look at current issues that impact our world and society and explore them through the lens of a Biblical Worldview, instead of the lens of modern media or social media.
I do not desire to tell you what to think, but teach you how to think, so that you may be able to filter current issues and events through your Biblical Worldview. You may not always agree with my view, and that is okay. I am open to any comments that you may have on the subjects that we explore.
We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. The cool fall weather and cold fall rains are upon us this week. The majority of the leaves are hanging on tight, though, so it looks like it will be late leaf harvest this year. With many mature walnut, maple, and oak trees on our over three acres of lawn, picking up all the leaves is similar to a small harvest. It is great to get out and enjoy fall in this manner.
After over a week in isolation, Hazel’s test of varicella virus (which is the vaccine given for chicken pox) came back negative, so as long as her blood count remains high, then she will start on her next round of chemo this week. It is our prayer that she is able to continue with these treatments, so it does not extend her overall regimen any longer than required.
Last week on our Wisdom Wednesday we explored what a Biblical Worldview is. If you missed listening to it, it would be good to go back to Day 721. Today we will explore…
How to Shape a Biblical Worldview?
A Chinese proverb says, “If you want to know what water is, don’t ask the fish.” Water is the sum and substance of the world in which the fish is immersed. The fish may not reflect on its own environment until suddenly it is thrust onto dry land, where it struggles for life. Then it realizes that water provided its sustenance.
· Everyone Has a Worldview
As I mentioned last week, everyone has a worldview. We are immersed in our culture and environment, and because of this, we have failed to take the ramifications of a secular worldview seriously. I am sure it is the same for other countries, but in the United States, we also need to be careful that we do not accept the culture and societies worldview as a Biblical Worldview.
Every culture has its own coherent set of answers to the questions of why we are here and what is our purpose for life. Cultures and societies change over time, so a secular worldview is not constant. A Biblical worldview is based on the unchanging truths and precepts in God’s Word.
What is at stake is how we understand the world in which we live. An example is how a culture or society views the sanctity of human life. Over time a society or culture may vary its view on the unborn, the sick, the aged, or a certain ethnic subsector of society. If you have a secular worldview based on societal norms and values, then there may be a strong conflict between that and a Biblical worldview as a Christ follower. You cannot have both.
These issues are worldview issues. Christ followers should recognize there is a great spiritual battle raging for the hearts and minds of men and women around the world. We now find ourselves in a cosmic struggle between Biblical truth and a morally indifferent culture. Thus we need to shape a Biblical worldview and view of life so that we will know how to learn and think Biblically and live out the truth of Biblically based faith.
The fact is that everyone has a worldview, whether they realize it or not. Some, even who consider themselves as Christ followers, have worldviews that are incoherent, being merely a smorgasbord of options from natural, supernatural, pre-modern, modern, and post-modern options.
An examined and thoughtful worldview, however, is more than a private personal viewpoint; it is a comprehensive life system that seeks to answer the basic and even some not so basic questions of life. A Biblical worldview is not just one’s personal faith expression, not just a theory. It is an all-consuming way of life, applicable to all spheres of life. It becomes the very fabric of who you are and is so integrated within you that it cannot be separated.
· Distinguishing a Biblical Worldview
There is a definite Biblical view of life, which has a character, coherence, and unity of its own, and stands in sharp contrast to counter theories and speculations. A Biblical worldview has the stamp of reason and reality and can stand the test of time, history, emotions, and experience.
A Biblical view of the world cannot be infringed upon, accepted or rejected piecemeal, but stands or falls on its Biblical integrity. Such a holistic approach offers a stability of thought, a unity of comprehensive insight that bears not only on what some may consider a religious sphere but also on the whole of thought. A Biblical worldview is built on the universal truths and principles found in the entirety of God’s Word. It is an all-embracing system that shapes religion, natural and social sciences, law, history, health care, the arts, the humanities, and all disciplines of study with an application to all of life.
Christ followers must articulate a Biblical worldview for the twenty-first century, with all of its accompanying challenges and changes, and to show how such Biblical thinking is applicable across all areas of life. At the heart of a secular worldview, we see that truth, morality, and interpretive frameworks are being ignored if not rejected. Much of today’s morality is based on the foundation of situational ethics. These challenges for the Christ follower are formidable indeed. Throughout culture, the very existence of a fixed truth is being challenged.
For Christ-followers to respond to these challenges, we must think differently by filtering all of the input into our minds through God’s Word as we are told in Romans 12:2, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
We need to take the greatest commandment seriously which we were taught by Jesus who told us to love God not only with our hearts and souls but also with our minds in Matthew 22:36–40, “‘Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?’ Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.'”
Jesus’ words refer to a wholehearted devotion to God with every aspect of our being from whatever angle we choose to consider it—emotionally, volitionally, or cognitively. This kind of love for God results in taking every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ as we are taught in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, “We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.” This type of Biblical worldview is shaped by a wholehearted devotion to distinctively Biblical thinking, or to think in Biblical categories. This means being able to see life from a Biblical vantage point; it means thinking with the mind of Christ.
The beginning point for building a Biblical worldview is a confession that we believe in God the Father, maker of heaven and earth (the Apostles’ Creed). We recognize that “He holds all of creation together” for all true knowledge flows from the One Creator to his one creation. As the Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians [1:15]-18,
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together.
Christ is also the head of the church,
which is his body.
He is the beginning,
supreme over all who rise from the dead.
So he is first in everything.
Next week for Wisdom Wednesday we will continue to explore a Biblical Worldview Starting Point. After a few weeks of establishing a foundation for a Biblical worldview, we will then view some of the hot topics that are prevalent today through a Biblical lens. If you have any topics that you would like us to cover, please email them to me at guthrie@wisdom-trek.com.
Tomorrow we will continue with our 3-minute wisdom nugget that will provide you with a bit of wisdom that, if followed will allow you to grow healthier, wealthier and wiser each day. So encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along with us tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.
That will finish our trek for today. If you would like to listen to any of the past daily treks or read the associated journals, they are all available at Wisdom-Trek.com. You can also subscribe through iTunes or Google Play so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.
Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.
As we take this trek of life together, let us always:
- Live Abundantly (Fully)
- Love Unconditionally
- Listen Intentionally
- Learn Continuously
- Lend to others Generously
- Lead with Integrity
- Leave a Living Legacy Each Day
This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!