While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." John 9: 5 (NIV)
While Jesus walked the earth He was the light piercing into the darkness of the world. He healed those that no one would dare go near. He broke bread with those the religious experts would typically shun. Because ultimately, you cannot be a light to the world if you are not somehow in the world.
"You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5: 14-16 (NIV)
Note that here Jesus now teaches that we are the light of the world. Once Jesus goes to the right hand of the Father, the light has now passed to us, as His followers, to be the light piercing into the darkness of this world. When we place ourselves into a Christian bubble however, we extinguish that light. We take the lighted lamp and place it under a bowl where no one can see. The world is desperately seeking beloved. They are desperately seeking a reason to believe and you and the light of Christ within you may be the only light they ever see.
The other extreme Christians can fall prey to is to be so far into the world that they are actually part of it. They key verses clearly state that we are no longer of the world yet in verse 15 we see that Jesus prayer is NOT for God to take us out of the world. Jesus realizes that we need to be in the world if we are to positively affect the world. Instead, Jesus prays that God would provide us with protection from the ruler of the world, Satan. And protection we do need. The world lures us away from God. The world contaminates and poisons our thinking and our faith if we are not careful. Too often we can see well intended Christians start to make compromises in their lives. A little sin here, a little concession there. We can hide behind poor theology like "God knows my heart" as a way to excuse what we know we should not be doing. Paul exhorts us in Romans:
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12: 2 (NIV)
And that is the tight rope we walk as Christians. We need to be in the world but not of it. We need to penetrate the darkness with the light of Christ that dwells within us but not allow the darkness to penetrate our lives. We need to renew our minds without allowing ourselves to conform to the pattern or thinking of the world. Why the focus on the mind? Because that is where the attack starts; that is where the sin starts.
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2Corinthians 10: 3-5 (NIV)
