Should Believers Be Different from Unbelievers?

Christ deals with “worldliness” in Matthew 6.

Mat 6:19-21 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: (20) But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: (21) For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Mat 6:31-34 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (32) (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. (33) But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (34) Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Worldliness is simply being consumed with the things of this world more than the “kingdom of God”. These things can be as basic, “sinless”, and necessary as “what shall we eat? or, What shall we drink”.

Our heart is given to this temporal world instead of the kingdom of God and hence the adultery of James 4.

We must not seek the things the “Gentiles seek”. That is where the difference lies between the saved and unsaved. Christ obviously teaches and sees a difference that should be evident especially of the heart.

I may be simplistic in my thinking and understanding, but the Word of God seems quite clear. We muddy the waters for various reasons.

The questions Pearson asks in the original article are quite legit in light of Matthew 6, IMHO.

Two swings, two misses. I hope someone at DBTS will write the post Andrew K. suggests (“HOW Should Believers Be Different From Unbelievers?”) and will do so thoughtfully enough to salvage the first two posts.