I’m sure you’ve heard Christian worship songs talking about how this world is not our home. Although not entirely wrong, I’ve come to believe this leads us to an unquestioned answer that Christians ought to abandon. “This world has nothing for me” may feel relatable, but how true is it?

Now, I understand why people say it. At first glance, it seems biblical. The Apostle James says, “Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

Today, we experience natural disasters, poverty, and disease, but people in James’ time had it much worse. Because of the despair they saw in the world, they began to toy with a philosophy called Gnosticism, which is a belief that puts significant emphasis on the spiritual rather than the material.

Gnosticism was considered by church fathers to be such a threat that they wrote the Apostles' Creed as a line-by-line refutation of it. Yet Gnosticism is still a temptation today. Many secular people think that Gnosticism is what true Christianity is about.

But keeping our focus ONLY on the here and now doesn’t necessarily make things better. A short-term mindset can be damaging, especially in a world where people have access to everything quickly and there is little that is worth keeping forever.

The Bible doesn’t teach that it is the world versus eternity. Rather it teaches us to bring an eternal perspective to bear on everything we do in this world. Christ is not outside culture or above it. He entered it to transform it.

That’s why we can’t be headed for the exits. In a world that is wasting away we ought to promote flourishing. A biblical Christianity is focused on moving people from poverty to prosperity, from disorder to order, from injustice to justice, from ignorance to knowledge, and from sickness to health. In short, we ought to be people who engage rather than escape.

In Christ all things are being made new. Relationships violently ruptured in the fall can be restored. The path to God and eternal purpose can be cleared of brush and followed once again. The Bible says that God has called creation “very good” (Gen. 1:31) and made it clear that we are to spread shalom until he tells us to stop. We can experience peace with God and proclaim it to the generations to come.