“BE NOT CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD.”
By A. Carter
A. CARTER. (St. Helena, Cal.) In “The Desire of Ages,” page 84, we read this statement: “As the condition of the people began to open to His mind, He [Jesus] saw that the requirements of society and the requirements of God were in constant collision.” Any Christian, if faithful, will most assuredly find that to be as true in these days as when Jesus was on earth. Unless we can say, in the language of Paul, “The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world,” we shall be constantly yielding to “the requirements of society” in such ways as to injure our spiritual life. We are commanded to “love not the world, neither the things that are in the world” (1 John 2:15); yet we cannot shut our eyes to the truth that many church-members appear to love some of the things Christ warns us against. This is seen in dress, in the furnishing of houses, in eating, in the style of weddings, funerals, etc. Those living in country districts are less exposed to the danger of being influenced by prevailing fashions than are those in cities. In the city a Christian realizes that simplicity of life in its various phases, means daily self-denial and cross-lifting. Man is naturally an imitative creature, and dislikes being thought odd or eccentric; but if we think more of our neighbor’s opinion than of pleasing our Saviour, we are not yet dead to the world, and a work of grace has still to be done in us. The invitation continues to sound: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me.” The yoke of fashion never chafed His neck. Can we imagine Him dressed in extravagant clothing, or adorned with jewelry, or having a cigar in His mouth? Of course such a picture shocks us. How much more must He be grieved when He sees men act in that manner,—men who should represent Him on earth. May God anoint our eyes that we may see our sinfulness, and may realize the full meaning of being “crucified to the world.” “In the time of John the Baptist, greed for riches, and the love of luxury and display, had become widespread. Sensuous pleasures, feasting and drinking, were causing physical disease and degeneracy, benumbing the spiritual perceptions, and lessening the sensibility to sin. John was to stand as a reformer. By his abstemious life and plain dress he was to rebuke the excesses of his time. In preparing the way for Christ’s first advent, he was a representative of those who are to prepare a people for our Lord’s second coming.”—“The Desire of Ages,” pages 100, 101. These are most impressive thoughts, and we shall have to give account for the way we use this light. Let us pray for grace to set a good example to the young around us, and not be to them a cause of stumbling. Read Matthew 18.