Living Under the Sun

Worldliness is a constant threat and challenge for Christians. Embracing worldly ideas and ways can undermine our faith and distract us from loving Jesus. And it can happen to the best of us. Today’s excerpt from The Kingdom Turn is found on pages 33 and 34:

“In the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon is at pains to persuade his son, Rehoboam, to acquire a new set of cues for how to live, and how to govern once he became king. Rehoboam was hanging with the wrong crowd. He was sowing his wild oats, living the good life, and avoiding any entanglements or obligations that might inconvenience him or cause him discomfort. Solomon implied he was living ‘under the sun.’ He was taking his cues from the material world and materialistic-minded people, and arranging the circumstances of his life to avoid responsibility and indulge comfort by every possible means. 

“Solomon explained that such a life, built upon and around favorable material circumstances, is like chasing after the wind. It’s the way the fool lives, who seeks only comfortable situations and lives for maximum personal advantage in the midst of a world of suffering, sorrow, want, and oppression. Under such circumstances, fools can get through life with a minimum of trouble. But they add little or nothing in the way of wisdom or neighbor love to those around them.

“Isn’t this the problem of many of us, even many of us who claim to have made the Kingdom turn? We spend our lives trying to arrange the best possible circumstances so that we can live happy and at ease, with as little sacrifice or suffering as possible. Let something in our agenda go awry, and we become sad, depressed, or angry until we can once again arrange our temporal and material circumstances to suit our preferred sense of wellbeing. We’re living like Rehoboam, under the sun, rather than under the heavens, where Christ rules, and us with Him, at the right hand of God.

“Solomon went on to explain that if we organize our lives according to eternal circumstances – the reality and rule of God our King – then everything in life makes sense, everything that comes our way is bearable, and everyone we meet will know the blessings of wisdom and love at our hands.”

For reflection or discussion
1. How would you be able to tell when worldly “cues” and influences were operating in your life?

2. What can happen if these cues and influences go unchecked? How should one “check” them?

Francis Schaeffer wrote that our Christian lives are less real to us than God intends because we allow worldly and naturalistic ideas and influences to “creep into our thinking, unrecognized.” We must pay attention to the ideas, goals, aspirations, and hopes we choose lest, like Solomon’s son, we become overwhelmed by them. Share today’s podcast with a friend, then get together to discuss it. Your free copy of The Kingdom Turn is waiting for you in The Ailbe Bookstore. Why not go there today? 

T. M. Moore