Throughout the stormy centuries, for the Christian Church, the tension has remained—to be in the world but not of it. Jesus knew this.

Jesus did not pray that you and I would somehow find a way to escape this world, with all its troubles and pain. He asked God to give us the wisdom and courage to live faithful to him in this world.

Being faithful in hard times isn’t easy. We must not let the world squeeze us into its mold. “Be not conformed,” Paul told the Christians living under brutal Roman reign. Instead, they must be transformed. How? Through the renewal of their minds. (Romans 12:1-2)