Deep Roots

A worldview? What's that? Why is it important? Several people who heard about this issue of The Lookout were curious. Maybe you are, too. Even if you haven't given it much thought, you do have a worldview; and it profoundly affects what you think and how you act.

For example, consider the skillful football player who has a natural "feel" for the game—a running back who always seems to know where to find a hole in the defensive line, or a quarterback who scrambles instinctively to avoid being sacked by an onrushing defender. Actually, his moves are more than instinct. Before becoming a star, a player spends years practicing his moves, learning the rules of the game, listening to the advice of coaches and parents, watching game films, studying opponents. By immersing himself in the culture of football, he internalizes its values. Deeply rooted in his life, football becomes second nature to him. The same could probably be said about capable students, skillful mechanics, talented musicians—or even growing Christians "who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil" (Hebrews 5:14).

Ideas usually precede actions. That's why we need to make sure we saturate our minds with a value system rooted in God's Word.

Two decades ago James Sire acquainted many Christians with the concept of worldviews through his book, The Universe Next Door (InterVarsity, 1976). According to Sire, a worldview is a "set of presuppositions (or assumptions) which we hold (consciously or unconsciously) about the basic makeup of our world" (p. 17). In other words, it's a way of viewing or interpreting reality—an "interpretive framework . . . by which one makes sense out of the data of life and the world" (Norman Geisler and William Watkins, Worlds Apart, Baker, 1989, p. 11).

Geisler and Watkins compare a worldview to a pair of glasses through which a person sees the world—with four important differences: (1) Unlike glasses that a person can take off and place on the bed stand at night, a worldview is worn constantly. (2) A person not only sees through his worldview, he also lives by it. It's actually a life view, affecting one's decisions and behaviors. (3) A worldview is dynamic and flexible, capable of changes and adjustments. (4) If a person is willing, he can undergo a paradigm shift or conversion in which he discards one worldview in favor of another.

To use a different analogy, a person's worldview functions like the roots of a plant. Though usually unseen, the roots beneath the ground act as an anchor, nourishing and stabilizing the rest of the plant. Tenacious and strong, roots can be quite difficult to dislodge—just ask anyone who's ever tried to remove a stubborn tree stump or rid a garden of weeds. Likewise, deep-rooted remnants of a non-Christian worldview—prejudice, bitterness, distorted values, ungodly habits and traditions—are hard to eradicate.

On the other hand, healthy roots in God's truth can make a person thrive "like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither" (Psalm 1:3).

In confusing times like these, when a wide variety of worldviews compete for our allegiance, we need to be "rooted and established in love" (Ephesians 3:17) and "rooted and built up" in Christ (Colossians 2:7) who is "the Root and the Offspring of David" (Revelation 22:16).

Only a life rooted in Jesus Christ will stand the test of time.