Worldliness: Resisting the Temptation of a Fallen World is edited by C.J. Mahaney and is authored by a consortium of Sovereign Grace Ministries ministers including Bob Kauflin. Mark Dever blurbs that this book is specific enough to be helpful, grace-filled enough to be really helpful.
Dever really nails it with that statement. This book can be read in just a few hours, but the information contained within its pages is a great benefit to any Christian struggling to live a godly life in our consumer-driven culture.
Worldliness is written with 1 John 2:15 as its thesis: “Do not love the world or anything in the world.” With that in mind, Mahaney and his partners address media, music, material possessions, and clothes. The last chapter of the book focuses on loving the fallen world in a Christ-like way.
Not surprisingly, Mahaney’s chapter on modesty and clothing is one of the strongest in the book. Insightfully he writes:
Any biblical discussion of modesty begins by discussing the heart, not the hemline…There’s an inseparable link beween your heart and your clothes. Your clothes say something about your attitude.
And quoting John MacArthur Mahaney writes this:
How does a woman discern the sometimes fine line between proper dress and dressing to be the center of attention? THe answer starts in the intent of the heart. A woman should examine her motives and goals for the way she dresses. Is her intent to show the grace and beauty of womanhood?…Is it to reveal a humble heart devoted to worshipping God? Or is it to call attention to herself, and flaunt her…beauty? Or worse, to attempt to allure men sexually? A woman who focues on worshiping God will consider cafefully how she is dressed, because her heart will dictate her wardrobe and appearance.
Worldliness does a great job of addressing some necessary issues in our American culture. We should be different from our world and this book shows us both the places we should be different and the ways we can be different. I encourage this book as an aid to better understanding our role as Christians with dual citizenship, both of this world and of God’s Kingdom.
