In my former life as a high school English teacher, I enjoyed reading the Charles Dickens classic, A Tale of Two Cities, with my students. It is a work of literature rich with symbolism, allegory, and contrast, beginning with the famous line, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…” I believe that sentiment to be true today. We live in the best of times in terms of the wealth of information available to us. Anything we want to know more about is literally at our fingertips as we press a button and open up the World Wide Web. But this also puts us at serious risk of stumbling upon unhealthy and often dangerous information shared through the lenses of questionable worldviews. 

If young people unwittingly consume this information before being taught to think critically about it, they are susceptible to skepticism and doubt, wondering which truth claim they now believe will later be debunked by some new revelation. C.S. Lewis says in The Abolition of Man, “The best defence against false sentiments is to inculcate just sentiments.” So what sentiments and values are we imparting to our children as we prepare them to interact with people whose worldviews may be different from their own?

I attended two graduation ceremonies this Spring, the first at a public high school and the second at a private Christian university. The high school commencement highlighted the theme of self-helpism, a philosophy that claims that we have within ourselves all we need to succeed in life. The salutatorian claimed that, ”We are makers of our own success.” The school board member who conferred the degrees encouraged the graduates to ”Embrace being the captain of your own ship.” While I understand the encouragement toward personal responsibility, this struck me as a very self-centered philosophy.

By contrast, the speaker at the second ceremony advised the graduates to demonstrate three qualities as they entered their chosen vocation: objectivity, humility, and civility. Cultivating these qualities leads to the acknowledgement that there is an objective source of truth against which we measure our accomplishments. It also leads to the realization that we can only be truly successful when we put others before ourselves and treat them with kindness. Examining these two worldviews through the lens of scripture reveals how to most effectively engage the culture around us and point others to Christ.

Worldview #1:  Self-helpism 

Self-helpism (making our own success) is an empty philosophy cloaked within the false promise of self-confidence. It casts a broad net under the banner of “the power of positive thinking” through books, podcasts, blogs, and celebrity personalities. The message sounds appealing and often reels us in unaware of the consequences of adopting this worldview. Self-helpism ultimately promotes insecurity by placing the responsibility for success or failure squarely upon the individual’s shoulders. Self-proclaimed success is fertile ground for pride, while failure whittles away at self-worth. Contrary to popular belief, the Bible never claims that “God helps those who help themselves.” God’s Word instead says that His power is perfected in my weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9.) A Biblical worldview promotes confidence when we teach our children that their strength comes from God, and that their success is not dependent on them after all. It removes the burden from them and places it on Him. 

Worldview #2:  Biblical Objectivity, Humility, and Civility

Jesus says in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” If this is true, then there is only one source of objective truth. It is this source of truth by which we are to define success. By contrast, if we believe that we are makers of our own success and captains of our own ships, then objective truth loses its significance. We need no outside measure of truth, and are tempted to subjectively define truth in whatever way best suits us at the moment. We remake truth in our own image to fit our own purposes; however, when my truth doesn’t line up with your truth, we stand at odds with each other for lack of an objective standard. This naturally lends itself to chaos and conflict, while the acknowledgment of an objective source of truth points us in the same direction and leads to harmony.

Philippians 2:3 instructs us to, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.” This is not a philosophy conducive with being the captain of my own ship. Any captain worth his salt puts the needs of his passengers and fellow travelers above his own. If we are to humbly travel through life, we must look around us and notice ways to build others up, rather than focusing on ways to make our own success. A self-centered attitude turns our focus inward and away from those traveling alongside us. This leads to a tunnel vision that blinds us to ways to follow the second greatest commandment, to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Paul says in Colossians 3:12, “Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience…” If we view ourselves as being makers of our own success, we tend toward an “end justifies the means” mentality, and civility is the farthest thing from our minds. After all, it’s a dog eat dog world out there, so we’d better look out for number one to ensure success. On the contrary, if we clothe ourselves with kindness, we recognize that true success is achieved by demonstrating love as we interact with others. Ordinary and consistent acts of grace point our fellow travelers to Christ, which is the ultimate goal in all we do during our journey through this earthly existence.

Looking to the Horizon

As our children embark on the journey of a new school year, will they be lighthouses built on a solid foundation of truth or battleships ready to plow down everyone in their paths? As we encourage them to engage the culture through Biblical objectivity, humility, and civility, the focus shifts away from them, and toward the one who has gifted them with all they need to succeed in life. God becomes the maker of their success and the captain of their ship. The one who spoke the oceans into existence is more than capable of guiding them through both the stormy seas and quiet waters of life. He sees every yesterday and every tomorrow as if it were today, and needs no compass to assist Him in guiding His children through the course of their lives. He only needs willing passengers who place their complete confidence in Him.

I am an overthinker in every sense of the word. In fact I’m sure I overthought how to begin this post, and I can assure you that after I publish it I will have thought of a million other ways to express what I intended to say. I can take hours to decide whether or not to buy a simple pair of shoes. Seriously. I’m not kidding. Just ask the men in my life who get dragged along on my shopping excursions. Sometimes overthinking can stop me dead in my tracks because my logical thoughts transition into fear. Emotions about a situation have the potential to overtake what the mind knows to be true. It’s no wonder that Paul exhorts us to think on “whatever is true” in Philippians 4:8. He also encourages us in Ephesians 6:14 to “fasten on the belt of truth” as the first piece of our spiritual armor when we go to war against the enemy. Rehearsing truth helps me maintain my sanity in the midst of daily struggles when my emotions attempt to take me down a winding and dangerous path.

Truth is undeniably a mighty weapon at our disposal in the daily battles we face; however, it seems that uncertainty is celebrated as a virtue in our present cultural climate. Constant questioning, while viewing life through the lens of skepticism, is often valued more than actually arriving at an answer. After all, how can we really know that our truth is correct and someone else’s truth is wrong? In a post-truth world where each of us is left to come up with our own definition of right and wrong, any mention of objective standards is dismissed and viewed as dogmatic and closed-minded. Additionally, strength of emotion is frequently equated with truth.

So does truth exist? As an evangelical Christian who believes in the absolute authority of the Bible, I can rest in John 8:32 which says, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” This tells me that God does not want me to remain captive in a prison of my own uncertainty. The Bible affirms to me that there is nothing wrong with going to God with my questions. Jesus calls Himself “the way, the truth, and the life” in John 14:6 and was especially patient with those who came to him honestly and humbly seeking answers. He encourages us to come to Him with the humility of a child (Matthew 18:4) and promises in Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” These verses don’t guarantee immediate answers; however, while answers may not come quickly, this doesn’t mean that no real answers exist, or that I should allow my emotions to be the arbiters of truth.

I recently read a helpful illustration in which the author described knowledge and feelings as follows, “I see feelings more as a person walking alongside you, always held in the clasp of your knowledge. If that person reverses the grip and your knowledge is clasped by the person of feeling, trouble begins.” God made us with emotions, but He also gives us the truth of His Word to guide us. Feelings can be irresponsible tour guides for life. They never tell us to buckle our seat belts or to keep our arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times. Truth, on the other hand, keeps us safe and makes sure we have all the facts when navigating through unfamiliar territory.

I am reminded of an incident that happened with my older son when he was about eighteen months old. Our morning church service had just dismissed, and he was standing outside the front door of the sanctuary. A friend of mine was holding onto his hand while I was having a conversation at the bottom of a flight of concrete steps leading down from the entrance. Despite being held in her protective grasp, my son, in all of his toddler wisdom, decided to wriggle his tiny fingers free and exert his independence. As he did so, the force of jerking his hand loose sent him tumbling perilously down the steps to the sidewalk below. I caught the incident out of the corner of my eye, and though I can now picture it in slow motion, I was unable to reach him in time. He landed at the bottom of the steps battered and bruised because he let his childish impulsivity reign in the moment. Following the investment of a substantial emergency room copay, we discovered that he was fine, other than a few bumps and scrapes, but he had learned a painful lesson about the physical properties of concrete.

How often do we let our feelings fling us to the ground instead of remaining firmly within the grasp of truth? When we let our feelings dictate the way we react, the results can be disastrous. As a woman, I know I am particularly vulnerable to this scheme of the enemy. In the emotion of the moment, I develop temporary amnesia and forget things like who God says He is, who He says I am, and how I am to conduct myself as His child. If the enemy succeeds in getting me emotionally wrapped up in a situation, my mind spins out of control like a tornado on an Alabama spring afternoon, and I am capable of leaving a lot of wreckage behind.

This is precisely why it is so important to keep our minds immersed in God’s word and meditate on it daily. When our minds are permeated with the truth we find within the pages of scripture, our feelings don’t have a chance to extricate their little fingers out of the grasp of the One who is the source of all truth. As we find ourselves in the midst of daily struggles, let’s continue to keep our minds on “things above”…held within the sure and steady grip of our heavenly Father.