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I love Hillsong United's song "Touch the Sky". In addition to the beautiful melody, it's poetic use of paradoxes draws me in. (A paradox is "something (such as a situation) that is made up of two opposite things and that seems impossible but is actually true or possible". --Merriam Webster) Consider the following lines from the song.
What treasure waits within Your scars
This gift of freedom gold can't buy
I bought the world and sold my heart
You traded heaven to have me again
My heart beating, my soul breathing
I found my life when I laid it down
Upward falling, spirit soaring
I touch the sky when my knees hit the ground
Treasure in scars? Finding life when you lay it down? Upward falling? Touching the sky when your knees hit the ground? Each of these ideas seem impossible, but as with paradoxes in the Bible, they represent higher truths. One scholar has said, "The Bible contains many paradoxes, not to cause confusion, but to make us think and, thereby, learn" (Ethan Longhenry). This song makes me think, and relearn some important truths about how to live life as a follower of Christ.
One of the Biblical paradoxes that most reminds me how to navigate life well is often paraphrased, "Be in the world, but not of the world." It comes from John 17:14-16 where Jesus is praying for both his disciples and for those who follow him even today. "I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it." In summary, we should live in the world, but remain separate from its influences.
This is illustrated way back in Deuteronomy 18:9 when God speaks through Moses to the Isrealites and warns, "When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there." We too are "a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation" (1 Peter 2:9). Romans 12:2 tells us, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."
Several years ago God illustrated this point as I drove to work. I was driving the speed limit in the middle lane of the freeway when a wave of heavy traffic came from behind. Literally everyone was passing me by on both sides, at least a couple dozen cars. I checked my speedometer, looked all around and saw nothing out of the ordinary. "Good grief, what's the deal? Why are they all going so fast?" I thought. Then God impressed upon me that this is what it's like when I choose to follow Him. Sometimes I will be in a separate lane of life while "the world passes me by" and everyone else is speeding along with the world's pace.
This makes me think of a couple of lines from a poem by Robert Frost entitled "The Road Not Taken."
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
It is a different road that we travel as Christians, a good road, "a path of righteousness for his namesake," and, unfortunately, "the one less traveled by."
"The point is that while we live in this world, we cannot let the world influence us" (La Vista Church of Christ website). We are not to follow the world and its values, not even in when it seems logical and reasonable. Whether we call it being intentional with our spiritual formation, developing a Biblical worldview, or simply being followers of Christ, it does matter that we strive to be in but not of the world. The price to do otherwise is far too high and the the price already paid is more than enough.
I bought the world and sold my heart
You traded heaven to have me again
Touch The Sky (lyric video) - Hillsong UNITED - YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1RQciil7B0