Articles Witten by Heidi Tai

Trusting that the Bible is God’s good word to us is not always easy, and especially so when the world’s way of thinking and living is at odds with God’s truths. Here are 10 quotes highlighting the temptations and dangers of “worldliness”, and why as Christians, we should strive to resist its pull.  

1. “Worldliness is whatever makes sin look normal and righteousness look strange.” ― Kevin DeYoung 
    
2. “Worldly wisdom: Waiting is an evil to eliminate. Godly wisdom: Waiting is a virtue to cultivate. Christianity is, by definition, a religion of delayed gratification.” ― Jen Wilkin 

3. “I am wired by nature to love the same toys that the world loves. I start to fit in. I start to love what others love. I start to call earth “home.” Before you know it, I am calling luxuries “needs” and using my money just the way unbelievers do. I begin to forget the war. I don’t think much about people perishing. Missions and unreached people drop out of my mind. I stop dreaming about the triumphs of grace. I sink into a secular mind-set that looks first to what man can do, not what God can do. It is a terrible sickness. And I thank God for those who have forced me again and again toward a wartime mind-set.” ― John Piper 

4. “Holiness (and goodness) should never be determined by the whims, wishes, and standards of a created thing or even a whole culture. Especially when that culture’s ideas are so easily influenced by the deceitful hearts within it, as well as its overall mutability, taking different shapes in conformity to its era. . . . God defines God.” ― Jackie Hill Perry 

5. “Are the things you are living for worth Christ dying for?” ― Leonard Ravenhill 

6. “The sin of worldliness is a preoccupation with the things of this temporal life. It’s accepting and going along with the views and practices of society around us without discerning if they are biblical. I believe that the key to our tendencies toward worldliness lies primarily in the two words “going along”. We simply go along with the values and practices of society.” ― Jerry Bridges 

7. “Ultimately, the gospel is offensive because the cross stands against all schemes of self-salvation.”  ― Tim Keller 

8. “We profess to be strangers and pilgrims, seeking after a country of our own, yet we settle down in the most un-stranger-like fashion, exactly as if we were quite at home and meant to stay as long as we could. I don’t wonder apostolic miracles have died. Apostolic living certainly has.” ― Amy Carmichael 

9. “The world says love yourself, grab all you can, follow your heart. Jesus says deny yourself, grab your cross and follow me.” ― Francis Chan 

10. “The glory of the gospel is that when the church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it.” ― Martyn Lloyd-Jones  

Be Inspired to Conquer Worldliness at Katoomba Easter Convention! 

God makes it clear in His word that for His people, the world is a competing loyalty. Anyone who loves the world cannot be a friend of God (James 4:4). It’s one or the other, not both. There is everything at stake in that choice. 

So how should Christians resist the gravitational pull of the world? How do we spot where the world has pulled us in and has shaped our thinking and living? How do we stay true to the course God has set out for us? What does ‘holiness’ look like in the 21st century? 

At Katoomba Easter Convention (KEC) this year, keynote speakers John North, Tim Blencowe and Matt Sparks will preach on the theme “Conquering Worldliness: Resisting the Gravitational Pull of the World”. Preview the talk series here.  They will also be joined by guest speakers John Lennox, Glen Scrivener and Rachel Ciano who will join us to discuss Christianity and worldliness in the church today.

Tickets are still available! Register today for Katoomba Easter Convention, and join us for a weekend that might change your life, and your family’s, for the glory of God.