Everyone has a worldview. In fact, all of the decisions we make are based upon our worldview. There are many factors that help form our worldview. Here are a few: family of origin values and practices, secular and religious education, media, social media, and peer pressures. The problem with this is that we develop a worldview which can be unbiblical and not even realize it.

If we are honest with ourselves, we can start to see the secular worldviews are informed by sinful inclinations. The Apostle John points this out, For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world (1 John 2:16 NIV). Do you agree with John?

In the process of transformational discipleship, we need to let the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit, and good theology from the Scriptures start to transform our worldview from the inside out. As our worldview is formed by biblical principles, we can now make better decisions about issues and challenges we face. This includes issues like honesty and integrity and godly living in our families, in our studies, in our work, and in our communities. It will have a positive influence on our marriage and parent-child relationships. We need to understand that the moment we responded to the grace of God and trusted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit came to reside in us. As we yield to Him and the Word, He will begin the process of changing us from the inside out to make us more like Christ. This involves our hearts, minds, and wills.

I believe this what Jesus meant when He gave us the Great Commandment in Matthew 22:37-38:

“ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 22:37–40.

So, let me challenge you to start to ask some difficult question of yourself. Start to list what you believe about honesty and integrity and see if it lines up with the Bible. List what you believe about your work ethic and see if it lines up with the Bible. List what you believe about love and marriage and see if it lines up with the Bible. List what you believe about family and God and see if it lines up with the Bible. List what you believe about humanity. There are many more issues that can be listed. I believe this is a valuable exercise to do. The Holy Spirit can start to transform our worldview from a secular one to a biblical one. More than that, it will result from deeply held biblical convictions from the inside out.

Next time, I will present some examples from Scripture of transformational discipleship.