Separate yet Relevant

Maintaining a standard of purity and a degree of relevance is a balance that every believer should strive for. Being a Christian in the Western culture, it can become very difficult to maintain a separate, holy and pure lifestyle while remaining relevance to a generation of people who are oftentimes deeply immersed in a sinful and decadent existence. The challenge that many face is one of remaining connected to the thoughts, attitudes and beliefs of others while remaining fixed upon the standards of God that you individually place on your life.

Personal standards that are clear, rational and defined are the believer’s greatest asset in maintaining the balance between holiness and relevance. These values must not come from another’s ideological view of life, but must be ascertained individually from the very Word of God. They must reflect a faith in a truth that is absolute while reproducing a degree of individual obedience to that truth which is revealed. They must be clear, understandable and easily communicated to others.

Many may try to simplify this important step by adopting a list of rights and wrongs that have been designed by others. Unfortunately, though these lists may be of great virtue and easily remembered, they will be meaningless if these standards have not become tangible to the individual believer. The standards must be thoroughly understood and ‘real’ to the one who must live them out. If not, they will become clichés which look good on plaques but carry no weight in their existence.

So the task of gathering ideals and standards to live your life by should be one which is undertaken with great care and precision to detail. It should be done with reliance on prayer and belief that there is an absolute truth to live your life by. Each trait, or standard, should be taken and examined closely and brought through the toils of everyday life to declare how living these standards would affect your daily existence. How would the adoption of this individual standard affect the decisions of your daily life? What temptations or trials may you face that would challenge this standard and how might you be adversely affected through your obedience to the standard that you have set? You must be able to truthfully understand the consequences of your standards and be able to mentally decide that, when faced with various decisions, you will stand by the standards that you make. Through this inner contemplation and role playing, you are preparing yourself to maintain a standard that may not be endorsed by those surrounding you.

I am in no means trying to perpetuate the lie of ‘relativism’ â€" whatever one decides for one is truth to that individual. I do believe that there is an absolute truth â€" a standard of rights and wrongs - that is to be found by each who sets out on the path to find it. I only endeavor to challenge you to thoroughly understand that truth on a personal level once it is found. If left to an existence set around standards that look good on paper but are never clearly understood, than truly you are left to an existence which can’t be defined, understood or enjoyed. The reality you’ll know is one of confusion and a desperate attempt to discover truth in a practical way.

As these truths are discovered, you will find that many of them are diametrically opposed to the standards of the Western culture. Culture will challenge your standards by offering a counter standard which is set to cause you to set aside your convictions and pick up those which are seen as socially acceptable and good for society as a whole. Your monotheist standard of worship will be challenged by those who want all to be accepted and seen as ‘right’ in the eyes of God. You will be forced to abandon this standard in order to gain acceptance in the culture. The challenge â€" or war â€" begins when one stands upon a standard and refuses to be swayed.

Even though many of the standards that you accept as absolute truth are challenged by the culture, there is still a great longing at the core of society and culture for a standard to be rose which they can call their own. People desire absolute truth. They want to know that there is a ‘right’ and a ‘wrong’ and a relationship that can be made with something greater than them. Ignorance will take control of the minds of many for it is a hard and difficult job to search and find standards which can be seen as absolute and true. But when faced with the challenge and a ray of hope that this truth exists, many will tighten their belts and begin the journey which will lead them closer to truth than they have ever been.

This truth, when found, must be applied to the believer’s life. Without application, it becomes a dead slogan or a mute horn which is pretty and shiny but doesn’t fulfill the purpose of its creation. The slogan slides into forgetfulness and the horn begins to rust. But when that truth is set upon the mind and applied through everyday decisions and conflicts, this truth becomes a slogan that is repeated on the lips of all who see it and becomes a horn which makes sweet music and draws all in the vicinity close to hear the tune. It speaks for itself and can be seen even by the blind, heard by the deaf, and experienced by all who find and apply it.

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