The Ultimate Foundation of the Christian Worldview

It is amazing to me how we, as human beings, are able to disconnect our brains in a way that allows us to ignore so much of the reality around us and live with internal contradictions. This happens at every level of our lives, from the mundane to the very important. Perhaps the mundane issues don’t warrant the effort it would take to resolve them. But there are truly important areas of life that we ignore at our own peril.

Some of this happens simply because of a lack of knowledge in particular areas of life. We find that there are things we don’t understand and simply choose to trust that our ignorance will not hurt us. This one is somewhat understandable, though some people use this as an excuse not to even try and learn what they don’t know in order to keep from having to make any changes in their lives.

But other issues are ignored by deliberate choice. For example, one faith system may teach that some activity is wrong. If an individual wants to participate in that activity, they may adopt a different religion that approves of it so that they don’t have to feel guilty about being disobedient – even though in their heart of hearts they don’t believe it. People who do this tend to actually believe that there is no such thing as objective, absolute truth. Either that, or they are willing to live with the internal contradiction in order to satisfy their personal desires.

People do this all the time regarding honesty and integrity, sexual morality, personal industriousness and so on. In other words, we have a tendency to know what is right and wrong in most situations, but choose to do wrong and simply justify it in our minds as a means of getting what we want. This is a reflection of the relativistic thought patterns which are now part and parcel of the worldview which dominates modern society.

As Christians, if we want to be true to ourselves and to God, we have to come to a place where we are willing to look at what God has given to us in Scripture as the bottom line objective reality that it is. In order to do this, we have to grasp an entirely different worldview perspective – a Biblical one. The ultimate truth about the nature of reality has been propositionally shared with us by God in the Bible. God is an actual person who exists and has revealed himself. And the revelation he has given us is literally true in an objective sense.

In order to truly grasp this and make it apply to our lives, we must start with God’s purpose. In every arena of life, purpose comes before everything else. Whatever purpose you begin with is the root of your every thought, attitude, belief and action. As you look at these things in your life you can begin to grasp a clue as to what your worldview really is. If there are places where it doesn’t match up with Biblical teaching, this simply indicates that there are parts of your worldview which are not truly Christian. Be that as it may, it all starts with purpose. Let’s begin by looking at God’s purpose for us.

On a generic level, God created mankind for a specific purpose – for fellowship with himself. Not that he needed to do this. God is certainly all sufficient within himself. But he wanted to be able to express his love even more. He set this up by creating man in his own image.

But a generic purpose does not get down to cases related to our personal lives. Ultimately, it is individual human beings with whom the relationship must take place. So, as we consider the purpose of our individual lives, we must recognize that it begins in the purpose of God himself. If we ever want to understand purpose for our lives, we must somehow come to an understanding of how we, individually, fit into God’s purpose.

If God’s purpose for creating mankind was for relationship with himself, we can deduce that our personal purpose for existing is found as we actually enter into and live in a relationship with him.

An interesting thing about this relationship, though; it must exist beyond duty and deeds. A purpose must always result in the fulfilment of that purpose. If that doesn’t happen, it is meaningless. And God’s purpose extends beyond external matters.

So, what does this mean as it relates to God’s purpose in us individually? If God’s purpose for our existence is relationship with himself, that must mean that we need to be living in fellowship with him. If we are not doing that, we are missing out on the most central point of our very existence. The profundity of the implications of this cannot be overstated.

Interestingly, this is not something that an outside person can clearly judge. It is quite possible to look like a Christian based on ones actions, but not be one. A person can go to church, pray, read their Bible, not swear, and do all kinds of good deeds and not be a Christian. It is also possible to be a Christian and live outside of the relationship, even while making a show of living in it by doing the deeds mentioned above. The determination of a relationship with God is something spiritual that cannot be seen from the outside. The true fulfilment of God’s purpose in us is completely based on internal issues. Of course, a person who is fulfilling God’s purpose will naturally do the things a Christian would be expected to do, but the deeds themselves are not proof of a relationship with God.

So, just what does the Christian worldview look like in a Christian’s life? The bottom line is that it reflects the very character of God as revealed in the Bible. A person living in relationship with God will have the beliefs, attitudes and actions that God himself has which reflects his purpose. But there is more. A person with a Christian worldview is also actually living in the purpose by personally sharing continuous fellowship with God.

Purpose is the starting point of everything. This is why understanding and living in God’s purpose is so critical for us as Christians. If we don’t get this right, our reason for existence will never be accomplished. But if we do get this right, everything, and I do mean everything, will naturally fall into place.