In But Not Of

Today as I browsed the shelves at a public library there were several books that caught my eye. My immediate thought was - those are Christian books - so I pulled them out to check and, for the most part, I was right. There was just something about them. In many cases, the titles were a dead give away especially in comparison to the titles of some of the books surrounding them. In other cases, there was something about the design on the spine and cover that made me think it was a Christian book. I wanted to take about 8 of them home but ended up choosing just two. (I made note of the authors & titles of the others so I could get them another time.)

As I happily walked out of the library with the books I had happened upon I was encouraged by my experience. I grew up hearing this phrase a lot..."Be in the world but not of it". As a child, teenager and even young adult I struggled with that concept at times. How can I live in the world and not be like it? How do you survive being different?

Seeing the Christian and non-Christian books sharing the same shelves at the public library is a great visual explanation of that concept. If what's inside of me is pleasing to God and if I exude that wherever I am, I can be in the world and not of it. Not only that, it speaks to the fact that Christians have a place in a non-Christian world. People will read us. They will want to know what we have to say. They will be drawn to us by what they see and hear. Not only that, but they can walk away from their encounters with us as happily as I did from the library today.

I love it when God speaks to me in ordinary ways through ordinary experiences. It's further evidence that I can be effective for God in the world in which I live.