As God's Children we can claim, truthfully, that we have the correct viewpoint to many issues that face society. Why can we claim this and in what attitude should we hold and share these Truths? Tim Challies offers us a well needed reminder in this article.
I guess it could sound like the most arrogant claim a Christian can make. I guess it could come across as pride or outright hubris. But the boldness of the claim does not diminish its truth. The fact is, Christians know better.
Christians know better than Muslims. Christians know better than Hindus. Christians know better than “nones.” Christians know better than atheists. It’s just reality. But let’s be clear, Christians do not know better because of who they are or what they’ve done. Christians do not know better because of anything earned or innate. Christians know better only because they accept guidance about this world from outside this world.
We humans live with the grave misunderstanding that we have a deep and accurate understanding of this world. We convince ourselves that we can get it, that we can solve it, that we can know what life is all about. But we fool ourselves because our view is far too narrow and our wisdom far too earthly. We inevitably frame the world around ourselves. We make ourselves ultimate and indispensable.
God offers us a remarkable privilege—the privilege of seeing the world from outside the world.
But God offers us a remarkable privilege—the privilege of seeing the world from outside the world. Through the Bible he offers us his view, his perspective. Through the power of the Holy Spirit he illumines the words of the Bible to our minds and hearts. He assures us that the starting point is him, not us. He frames the world around himself and his purposes. He makes himself ultimate and worthy of worship. He instructs us on how we can, should, must live. And then, and only then, do we begin to see it and get it. Real knowledge begins the very moment he awakens us through the gospel.
So, Christians know better because God knows better. Christian, you know better. You can confidently believe that you know better when what you know is consistent with the Bible. And one of your responsibilities is to tell non-Christians what is best for them, too. It is to share the wisdom you have been given and to do so with love, concern, and humility. It is to introduce God’s wisdom over and against the wisdom of men and, in that way, to slow the inevitable march toward ever-deeper darkness and depravity. Primarily, of course, you share the gospel in the hope that they, too, will be saved and receive the Holy Spirit. But you also call them away from wrong-headed choices and warn them of the consequences of sin. Always your authority is the book, the guidance God gives. Out of love for the world, you call people away from the darkness of the world. Because, through him, you know better.
