We are in this world but are not of this world. This is the inherent tension of our Christian faith. How do we successfully sustain this tension in our lives?
In the first letter of St. John, we are told that “whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.” This suggests that the world is evil and that our desire should be to have as little to do with the world as is possible for us. This was certainly a strongly held position within our church for many centuries. Christians were taught to see this world in which we lived as an impediment to a real, strong, affective relationship with God. Only if we lived a truly spiritual life, with as little contact with the world as possible, could we experience a true victory over this world – a victory that would be ours in death as Christ recognized us as Christ’s own and raised us up to share his glory.
The problem with this point of view is that it ignores the fact that God entered into the world in the person of Jesus and that Jesus was fully engaged in this world. Jesus kept a healthy balance between a life of prayer and a life in which he worked to transform this world through his words and his actions. We must now do as Jesus did. We must transform this world through our commitment to his values – mercy, forgiveness, compassion, and a concern for the poor, the weak and vulnerable. These are not the prevailing values of our world. We can, therefore, expect opposition to our witness and our work just as Jesus experienced opposition to his witness and to his work. This is why we also must sustain a regular pattern of prayer, as Jesus did, so that God can guide our efforts and correct our faults. If we are true to both our prayer and our active efforts to transform this world, then through our faith we will conquer the world. Our witness will transform the world for the good and we will share in Christ’s victory over sin and death.
In this Easter season, we must pray for the grace to sustain a healthy balance between our active engagement with this world and our need for a living, active relationship with God.