LEAven Blog

I have been giving a lot of thought to my worldview these days. It isn’t something that one normally spends time processing on a cognitive level. It’s just there. My worldview is the sum of my lifetime of experiences, thoughts, education, interactions, mistakes, encounters, reactions, and emotions. Much of the influence on my worldview emanates from conditions about which I have no control. Other parts of it are a direct result of my decisions and conscious effort to carry out a Christ-centered life with God’s guidance.

It seems as if I have forces working against my worldview more than ever before. Of course, Satan has always been at work, but the number and types of worldly influences that have challenged me are abundant each day. Technology’s exposure to the world, politics, societal changes, economy, and international conflicts are just a few examples. How can I cope with the constant array of distractors and work them into my life in a productive, God-pleasing way?

My recent experience on a cruise was a great reminder of the way in which my worldview can be positively influenced by many factors outside of my control, which ARE part of my community each day. If you are not familiar with the cruise experience, I’ll sum it up with the word “diversity”: people, experiences, food, schedule, surprises, and (yes, I’ll say it again) FOOD. There is something different every hour of every day. Of course, this is all by design … it’s part of the cruise experience.

The #1 factor that gave me great hope and had a significant influence on my worldview were the people I encountered. I must have spoken with staff representing more than 30 countries across six continents, all with their own life stories and experiences, and talking with accents from a wide variety of languages.  Passengers from around the world outnumbered Americans 20 to 1. We were even blessed to have participated in a daily Bible study with fellow Christians from many countries working through the Book of Acts. Talk about Scripture coming alive in a relevant way!

Over the many days at sea, I was reminded of the myriad ways God uses our daily experiences to enrich and equip us to expand our worldview. The cruise example is similar to what we each find ourselves experiencing most every day of our lives, both in person and virtually: individuals we know and many we don’t, all of whom have their life stories and their own worldviews. In many ways, the world comes to us in our communities, in our congregations, and in our schools. It comes to us in our homes, on our devices, through our news sources, and via the people we meet each day. How we allow these many factors to influence our worldview is up to us. Here are a few suggestions:

• Stay firm in your existing Christian worldview. Keep Scripture firmly at the center of your life and support it with Christian growth and fellowship. Use this as the solid foundation for worldview formation.
• Be open-minded. Be ever ready to expand your worldview. Don’t close doors before allowing for new ideas, perspectives, experiences, and opinions to be expressed. Use those things with which you disagree to strengthen your own resolve.
• Listen. Allow others to express opinions and tell their stories. Continually developing our worldview requires our learning from others.
• Seek out people and experiences that are different from you and your own background. My exposure to all of those folks on the cruise ship is not unlike our encounters with people in our communities, those who send their children to our schools who are not our church members, and even our congregational members themselves. Learn what it means to live in a different environment than yours.
• Utilize multiple sources of news and information; research those that are reliable, but also explore sources that provide you with a variety of perspectives. Whether you agree or disagree with opinions expressed, it will help to develop a stronger, more informed worldview for yourself.

I have found that my life experiences have all been part of my worldview formation: both positive and negative, pleasing and challenging, those things with which I agree and those with which I don’t. One big learning is that my worldview is richer because of the variety of experiences I have had and as I developed a positive view about learning in diverse environments. I encourage everyone to try the “cruise ship” approach to developing and enhancing a Christian worldview using the people, opportunities, and experiences God gives us each day. Sail away!