A Biblical Worldview

I often times have a hard time explaining to friends and family what it means to have a biblical worldview.

So many Christians simply think in terms of What Would Jesus Do, and that's not a bad question to ask, but being a Christian is much more than simply using Jesus as a moral guide.

Daily Bible reading (and reading other good Christian works) helps shape the way you think. The more you read the Bible the more you will think like a biblical author.

I'm thinking thematically...like with Star Wars and other movies you're familiar with. When I drive through a tight construction zone with high walls I find myself thinking, "just like Luke on his Death Star run"...that's because I've infused myself with the Star Wars experience. Likewise, when I walk down a row of cubicles I sometimes find myself thinking, "just like Balaam on his way to deliever an oracle."

It's the difference between living scripture and knowing scripture. The advantage of living scripture is it will make your life more meaningful as you see yourself as a real member of the Body of Christ in a real and meaningful way. bY giving yourself over to Christ and his Word, you will find a whole new way of experiencing God, life, and discipleship.

An article I read on Lincoln makes this very clear. Lincoln, although he was likely not a professing Christian, read the Bible daily. Consequently, his thoughts and words were shaped by the authors of the Bible. I don't believe that Lincoln used the Bible to attain his political purposes, but rather his encounters with the biblical texts were so regular and intimate that he could not help but have it shape him.

Gettysburg's Good News: "And yet, whatever expectations he may have taken to Gettysburg, however reluctant he was to make a personal profession of Christianity, much of what Lincoln said carried the sounds of the Bible. This was the music of the ancient Hebrew turned into King James's English. This was the language he was raised on. 'Four score and seven years ago.' Psalm 90: 'The days of our years are three score years and ten'; one of the best-known sentences of the Book. 'Brought forth' is not only the biblical way to announce a birth, including that of Mary's 'first born son,' but the phrase that describes the Israelites' being 'brought forth' from slavery in Egypt.

Birth, sacrificial death, rebirth. A born-again nation. At a less-than-conscious level, Lincoln weaved together the biblical story and the American story. 'Fathers.' 'Conceive.' 'Perish.' 'Consecrate.' 'Hallow.' 'Devotion.' The devout in the cemetery heard Lincoln speak an intimately familiar and beloved language. His words pointing to rebirth went even deeper than the Christian message, reaching the primeval longing for a new birth that humankind has yearned for and celebrated with every spring since time immemorial."