We are likely more conformed to the age in which we live than we realize. Even those of us who stand firmly opposed to many of its most significant sins might still conform in other ways. We rarely recognize much of the worldliness around us because it is well-mannered and has an air of sophistication. That is the ungodliness we are most susceptible to.
G. Campbell Morgan once said, “Did you ever try to discover how you are almost compelled by the very character of the age in which you live to give hours of thought and attention every day to an enormous number of things you could very well do without—material things all of them, with no touch of spirit in them?”
By the phrase “giving hours of thought,” Campbell did not merely mean that they cross our mind, but that we care deeply about them. We pursue them and stake much of our fulfillment in them. In our day, a good example could be shelter and clothing. Both of these deserve our attention in life. It is not ungodliness to ensure we and our family have what we need in these areas. However, most of us are well beyond being concerned about necessities. In our day, we have turned both of these into status symbols. Even if we have what we need, we often strive for more because we are seeking the glory and affluence of the world.
When we are in such a frantic pursuit of the world’s recognition and novelties, Campbell says, “The old solemn hours of quiet aloneness with God that made the saints of the past are almost unknown.” Even our church services are not immune. Many people respond more to spectacle and sentimentality than the Word of God, and many church leaders are happy to oblige if it will help fill the pews. So now, not only do we not quiet our hearts before the Lord when we are alone, but even our corporate worship is no longer a refuge from the glitter and noise of the world. We often do not recognize it because our lungs are accustomed to breathing the same air.
What pursuits consumed much of your free time this week, and what ambitions drove much of your workweek? Where those motivations godly or driven by the spirit of the age. Indeed, the sacred-secular split held by many religious people is not biblical. All things can be done for the glory of God. Your work, whether customer service, physical labor, or knowledge work, can all be as God-glorifying as a pastor’s if it is what God has called you to do and you strive to do it with excellence. However, removing the sacred-secular split does not guarantee that all our work and motivations are godly. On the contrary, in the same way, we can do our secular work to the glory of God, we can be motivated in our sacred activities by man’s recognition. Yes, even our sacred activities can be worldly.
This world pulls us in many directions, and much of what pulls us are the invisible chains of cultural conformity. To paraphrase John Owen, when we are pulled in those worldly directions, it is not because these things have put anything into us. Instead, they draw out what is already in us. It is our sinful desires that give them their power over us.
Maybe it is time for us to look at our lives to discover how we are compelled by the very character of the age. None of us are perfect, so we must first look to Christ for our forgiveness and righteousness. The second thing we must do is seek to be conformed to his image more and more. This transformation can only be done by renewing our minds through the Word of God. Only then will we be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will. Until we spend time breathing the fresh air of God’s Word, we will not begin to recognize that some of the air we have been breathing is unhealthy.
-D. Eaton
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