Finding God’s Will (2)
Unbeliever Advise: Finding God’s Will (2)
The role of unbeliever, people who don’t share our
Christian belief, has somewhat been deemed by some
Church’s pulpits. I Cor. 15:33, "..Bad company
corrupts good character…", is undoubtedly a strong
support of how we have to be extremely careful with
whom we hang out with. The Corinthian believers lived
among pagan worshipers, sexual immorality, and
super-arogant society. Paul knew that they had to
stand up and "be different people". Indeed, in I Cor.
3:16, he urged them to be God’s Temple, alluding that
they should NOT be the same as the "other temples."
They have been bought by the Blood of Christ (I Cor
6:20), so it’s a necessary to be holy, separated from
the wicked.
Paul’s concern is absolutely important to be noted and
remembered. However, this truth has been extended to
a degree that has ruined the purity of God’s word.
Extended application has notoriously been recognized
as the source of confusion. In this case, I would
argue that Paul didn’t suggest that we COMPLETELY
ignore the role of unbelievers. He merely said that
they should be aware of the danger and urged them NOT
to live like them. Therefore, the same principle
applies to us. We should be aware of the danger of
unbeliever influence and should not live like them.
But we’re not encouraged at any rate to ignore them.
In other words, I believe, biblically and
experientially, that our unbeliever friends, family,
co-workers, etc are also placed by God in our path, so
that they can shape our view of life (to certain
degree). And since our view of life is the framework
of how we make godly decisions - finding God’s will, I
would suggest to start "listening" to unbelievers
around us.
This opinion, I realise, is not the easiest truth to
accept for some people. But believe me, we can learn
a lot from them. The most practical example that I
can give is the role of unbeliever parents. While we
can’t live like them, and their advise could be
non-biblical, they are definetly placed by God to help
us grow. Listening to their advise is a must. And
don’t be afraid to learn from them.
From my own experience, I have found out that my
unbeliever friends can be a lot wiser than my godly
friends. And usually after viewing their advise from
the Word of God, I realise that some of what they say
are also what God says.
In conclusion, if we believe "all truth is God’s
truth", consequently we also have to believe that all
good advise is from God regardless where it comes
from: believers or unbelievers (yhs)
