When I was a kid, I lived two blocks from a small, independent grocery store. It was one of my favorite places to go. I did not pedal my bike there several times a week to buy groceries, though. My interest centered on the shelves facing the cash register, lined with candy.
My favorites were Snickers bars, Hershey’s chocolate bars, Baby Ruth bars, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. I liked the various flavors of Wrigley’s gum and the Hostess chocolate cupcakes and Twinkies and dabbled in licorice, jawbreakers, and hard candies. I enjoyed Pixy Stix, which were paper straws filled with flavored sugar. There was a freezer filled with popsicles, frozen fudge bars, ice cream bars, and ice cream sandwiches.
I ate this assortment daily. When I remember this now, I cringe. I shudder to think how much sugar I consumed between ages five and twelve. We knew then that sugar was bad for your teeth, but now we know many other harmful effects of excess sugar on the body.
I don’t eat candy anymore. Today if I walk into a convenience store, I have a completely different attitude regarding what I will find on the shelves compared to my childhood delight in the nearby store.
A Christian’s shift in world-view
When we become true disciples of Jesus, we have a similar transformation in our attitude toward the world. Yes, there are good and beautiful things in our world, just as my candy store sold healthy food in aisle two and quality meat in the butcher’s market in the rear. But Christians soon learn our world has things that displease God.
While non-Christians know there are evils in the world, the world and its pleasures are typically their life and hope. They cannot agree with what the Holy Scriptures say, “The whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” (1 John 5:19).
That may sound to you like an extreme or outdated worldview. Let’s talk more about the shift in world-view that every true disciple of Jesus needs in upcoming posts.