Contra Mundum

Contra Mundum. This is a Latin phrase that means, “against the world”. It has all kinds of applications, especially for the Christian. We are commanded by Scripture not to “love the world, nor the things of the world” (I Jn. 2:15), because the world system, the culture, operates contrary to the ways of God. Yet, in so many aspects, the Christian church of today has chosen to follow the same path as that the unbelieving world to which we have been called to bear witness of Christ. This idea of contra mundum was so prevalent with the Apostles and the early Church that they saw themselves as being outsiders looking in at the culture around them, never fitting in nor ever having a desire to do so. So strong was this knowledge that they wanted God’s people to understand two important facts. First of all, they would be outcasts to their pagan culture (I Jn. 3:13). Secondly, because of which, the Apostles encouraged fellow brethren never to seek to join in with what the world was doing because it would only lead them away from God (Jas. 4:4). Think of the impact such teaching would have on present-day believers if they applied it en masse!

Take, for instance, the Scriptural principle that God uses the small and insignificant to accomplish His great work. How many times throughout the Bible does He Himself display this example for His people to see and learn! He starts out with only two people, a man and a woman, and populates a planet (Gen. 1:27-28). He chooses one reluctant man from one of the smallest tribes in Israel to lead only 300 soldiers to defeat an overwhelming Midianite army (Judg. 7). Jesus, His Son, is prophesied to be born in one of the smallest villages in Judah, Bethlehem, a seemingly insignificant dot on the map, though in times past it was known as “the city of David” because it was the birthplace of Israel’s greatest king (Mic. 5:2). Jesus Himself said that if any of His followers possessed faith the size of the smallest of the seeds of that region’s plants, the mustard tree, they could “move mountains” (Mt. 17:20). According to the Apostle Paul, God, willfully determines to do His mighty works using the small and noticeably unimportant (I Cor. 1:18-31).

Yet, modern Christianity, especially as practiced here in America, has both forgotten and neglected this truth. We have purposefully put aside the fact that God Himself established “the day of small things” (Zch. 4:10). We have become thoroughly and totally consumed in the American success and business model of “bigger is better”. Because of this, we remove from our lives the prospect of obeying God’s command to “walk (live) by faith” (II Cor. 5:7). In our pursuit of greater and grander things, jobs, experiences, we forget that God does not want us to look for the huge nor to depend on the expansive nor to find our excitement in the stimulating encounters that grab our attention. Rather, in the “walk(ing) by faith”, He is found in the “still small voice” (I Kgs. 19:12), “not in the wind” or “in the earthquake” or “in the fire” (I Kgs. 19:11-12). We must make sure that our lives are framed in such a way that we are living so that our dependence and trust is completely in Him and not on ourselves, our circumstances, our resources, our possessions, our loved ones, nothing that belongs to this world. We should also not look to the grand and glorious to capture our attention and allegiance, whether this is in the world, the culture or in the church. God, in all of His splendor and majesty, should be all of the magnificence we should ever require. If we truly trust and believe in Him solely and devotedly, He will operate on our behalf in ways that will undoubtedly blow our minds.

So, the challenge is before us. God calls us as the followers of Christ to live in consistency that exhibits complete faith and trust in Him in all things, not just the spiritual dynamic. In our jobs, work and play, we are to show that Jesus is preeminent, first and foremost, in our priorities. If we do and are obedient to His teachings, we will most assuredly be portraying ourselves as He desires, contra mundum, “against the world”.