And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Book of Romans, chapter 12, verse 2
One of the foundational concepts of being a child of God and a follower of Christ is to be in the world but not of the world.
In other words, we have to live here until we cash out. So, we have to be able to function. Have healthy relationships. Do productive work. Support our friends and family. Help those who need help. All that stuff and more.
But we aren’t supposed to get caught up in trying to master this world. Some of us will be great successes, but not all of us. And it shouldn’t be something that we get bent out of shape trying to pursue. This world is temporary and to worry about only the matters of the flesh leaves our souls highly vulnerable. In fact, it can put our salvation in jeaopardy because if we focus only on the world and never on the spirit, we will not seek connect to God, and that is how we as humans become born again and secure our salvation. Those who don’t worry about their spirits are not all that likely to become born again in the first place.
And once you are born again? What do you do then? Cut off the world?
Please. Have fun trying.
I don’t advocate retreating from the civilized world and living in a cabin. I don’t advocate living in a fantasy land that says we shouldn’t worry about anything in this world like our damage to the environment because that’s God job. I don’t recommend getting so preachy with folks that you cannot carry on a simple conversation about work or world events or the football game on Sunday.
Being born again means staying aware of your spriritual side and never letting the affairs of the world swallow that up. This is, of course, a silly thought to someone who doesn’t believe in a spiritual realm because to them, all there is to life is living in this world. They want to make the most of the time they have.
To some extent, those of us in the spirit also should relish our time here and make the years we have good ones. We have to make the most of our time too. But we can’t make it our sole concern. Also, making the most of our times means spending time on things related to the flesh when necessary but also spending time on matters of the spirit.
And if that makes us look silly or crazy to the non-believers around us, so be it. It’s not them we need to answer to in the end. It’s not them we should devote ourselves to pleasing.