Why Shouldn't We Cut Ourselves Off From the World? Common Grace.

It's a common trap of the Christian life to cut one's self off from the world; to distrust all that the world has to offer. But by doing this we're potentially cutting ourselves off from God's revealed truth. How?

In the same way that Paul quote a pagan prophet in Titus and then pronounce, “This testimony is true”. Or in the way that he can quote the Greek poet Aratus on Mars Hill, “We are his offspring,” as part of Paul's own argument against idolatry (Acts 17:28). As well as in the way that he can quote the Greek playwright Menander, “Bad company corrupts good morals” (1 Cor 15:33). Or as Solomon and the other authors of Proverbs place in Scripture certain maxims that have parallels in the wisdom sayings of Mesopotamia and Egypt. And how Paul appeals to the pagan standards of family ethics to indict an incestuous couple in the Corinthian church, stating that such immorality would not be tolerated among unbelievers (1 Cor. 5:1).

How can this be? How can Christians, by cutting themselves off from the world, actually be missing out on God's revealed truth? The answer is found in the corresponding truths of God's common grace and of human inconsistency. God's common grace not only bestows rainfall and sunshine on the rebel as well as the righteous.

Apart from the Spirit's regenerating work, our father is the devil, who was a murderer from the beginning. Were it not for the restraining power of God's common grace, we would so consistently follow the nature of our father the devil that we would destroy the human race in a generation. Our father the devil is also a liar, and fallen humanity “exchanged the truth of God for a lie” ( Rom. 1:25). But even the children of the father of lies don't speak lies in every sentence they utter.

God can use the non-believer for good and He can certainly reveal His Truth by his lips. We do ourselves a disservice when we cut ourselves off from the world. Be different. Use a Biblical lens to discern what is God's Truth and what is the world's lie. But do not be isolated.