I have decided that I really don’t care for the phrase “in but not of.” I get the reasoning and I know where it comes from in Scripture and I love that passage in John 17, I mean it’s the words of Jesus that his disciples were “not of this world.” But trying to explain that phrase to a teenager and help them see the difference, I am just done with.

I don’t read the Desiring God blog much. However, I did find one blog post recently and it really resonated with me. If you want to read it, you can find it here. It’s nicely done. The author makes a statement that I really like and I think sums up what we as Christians are called to be about.

We are not called to “be in not of,” we are being sent into the world. See this has a much stronger purpose to our faith. To be in means we are just there. Doesn’t mean we have to do much. Being sent into, has action and requires us to get involved in the world in order to show the love of God with those that are hurting, rejected, the least of these. When some one is sent into the game, they have a role to play. You can be “in” the game and just be sitting on the sidelines. You can’t be sent into and not get actively involved in what is going on.

As I was preparing a message about for my teens about not being influenced by the world, I realized that the question; “How do I keep from being influenced by the world,” was not the question I needed to be asking.

The real question that I and we need to be asking is; “How do I become an influencer of the world?”

When we ask the first, we are on defense and just simply trying to be in the world but just keep our place. When we start asking the second question, we take on the role we were called to play (its the offense by the way) and we realize we have been sent into the world.

In order to become an influencer we have to know what we are about. We have to know, live and hold onto our convictions. Not in an overbearing, I’m right you’re wrong, kind of way but in a firm way that we are able to love those vastly different then we are while still knowing what we believe.

We have to have a climate that allows us to be refreshed and renewed in what we believe. If we never get fresh supplies, if we are trying to just go alone, we will eventually start playing defense again because we have to hold on to what we have left. Climate happens when we are putting ourselves regularly where God and encourage us through other Christ-followers.

And finally, we have to have courage. We have to go out into the world knowing that we will probably take some hits. That people aren’t going to agree with us and that’s fine. Just because someone disagrees with us is no reason to stop loving as Jesus loved and give up on what we know we have been called to do.

Playing offense is so much more fun. You can mix it up. You can pull some surprises out and really impact those around you. When we are so focused on playing defense, we leave ourselves vulnerable and not in the good way. We become so self-focused because it becomes about self-preservation instead of Kingdom advancement.

Remember, as a Christ-follower, we have been sent into the world. We have a commission to fulfill and an ACTIVE role to play. Just sitting on the sidelines, being in the game but not doing anything is useless and not any fun. The best thing about following Jesus happens when we get into the game and become the influencer that we are invited to be.

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