We are in this world but not of this world. Some notice and want to rid the world of our witness and faith.

It's difficult to be different. Who doesn't want to be part of the crowd? Or fit in? Or be liked? From without and within come those pressures to conform, especially from the sinful world in which we live. Constantly it seeks—sometimes subtly, more often blatantly—to squeeze our minds into a meaningless mold so that we think, speak, and act like everyone else.

What's a Christian to do? How can a person's faith keep on breathing in such a polluted atmosphere? Or to put it another way—how can one be definitely different?

Recognizing the world for what it is

Was David mistaken in describing the sinful world of his day? In Psalm 2 he wrote, "Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. 'Let us break their chains,' they say, 'and throw off their fetters' " (v. 1-3).

Self-sufficient man, wrapped up in his own schemes, content with his own sins, bent on living his own way, can't stand the thought of a Lord to whom he must answer. Even more, he resents the fact that this Lord sent his Anointed One to do for all humans what no one else could do. Men and women want to look for answers down here and have no time for a Savior who came as God's answer from up there.

So, in arrogance they take the Lord on instead of taking him in. Listen to how foolish the unbelieving world can be. "Chains," they call God's Word and ways. "Fetters," they label them. The love God has shown them by sending Jesus as their Savior only seems like chains on them, telling them they cannot save themselves. The life God wants them to live in grateful response to him and the commandments he has given to guide them seem only like fetters prohibiting instead of protecting them. So their cry is, "Let's break the chains and throw off the fetters." The sinful human heart thinks too much of its own wisdom, its own strength, its own righteousness to acknowledge its own unworthiness and desperate need for God's help. Instead, the world that surrounds believers tries to drown out the sound of God's voice and silence the witness of those the Lord has made his own.