A world view is a way of understanding the world around us. Everyone has a world view, whether conscious of it or not. A world view attempts to answer basic questions about reality like where we have come from, why we are here, how we should live our lives while we’re here, and what happens next after this life is over.
[Related: What Is a Biblical Worldview?]
Where Have We Come From? Why Are We Here?
In series, we started with the creation. This answers the question of where we came from. As human beings, we were created by God in his image.
Human beings, of all the created things in existence, are unique because we were created to have a special relationship with God. This is a relationship of intimacy and fellowship, but also of responsibility and accountability. It reflects God’s love and care toward us. But something happened to threaten God’s purpose for us: we stepped outside of God’s boundaries. Our disobedience broke the relationship and brought on humanity the consequences. God had established a penalty for sin: separation from him expressed in both physical and spiritual death.
Yet God’s purpose remained. So when our relationship with him was violated, God stepped in to restore it. So this is how the biblical world-view begins: We were created by God for relationship with him. That relationship was broken our rebellion. Now God is at work to bring us back to him once again. The rest of the Bible tells us how God has moved throughout history to fulfill our need and make things right.
[Related: Creation, Temptation, and The Fall]
[Related: God’s Great Story – Creation, Catastrophe, Covenants]
How Do We Live Our Lives?
Immediately after the first humans broke away from God, God made a promise. Through the seed of a woman, he would reverse the consequences of sin and death. That happened through the person and work of Jesus Christ. He lived a sinless life, died on the cross for us, and rose again from the dead to live forever. This creates a choice. We either come to believe that God has done this through Jesus, believing in his identity and his work, or we do not. That belief – or lack of it – shapes how we live our lives. If we believe, then our desire is to learn God’s best for us, which we learn by studying the Bible and relying on the Holy Spirit’s leading. As we live in the Holy Spirit’s power, we become more and more conformed to the image of Jesus, meaning that his character qualities increasingly take shape in us. But if we have not believed these truths about Jesus’ person and work, we will continue to live for ourselves instead of God.
[Related: How to Fulfill Your Purpose on Earth]
[Related: Embrace Your New Purpose]
[Related: Navigating Freedom and Responsibility]
What Happens After This Life?
Ultimately, what happens to us after this life depends on what we decided about Jesus. Our worldview about Jesus – who he is and what he has done – determines the destiny of what comes after this life. The Bible is clear: sin is judged in only two places. First, it is judged on the cross, where God judged Jesus in our place for our sin.
2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Our sin was judged in Christ on the cross. As a result, our sin debt is payed. We are given his righteousness in return. We can now live forever in God’s presence, in relationship with him.
But for those who have not trusted in what Jesus has done in cross and the resurrection, there is another place where sin is judged. It is judged by God in our own lives – after this life is over. When we turn to go our own way instead of God’s way, that relationship is broken. If our sin is not paid for by Jesus on the cross, it remains on our own heads as the just consequence of sin.
What is your world view ? What have you decided about Jesus?
[Related: What Is the Gospel?]
[Related: What Mormons Believe About Eternity]
[Related: Heaven – Fact and Fiction]
