A worldview is how you perceive, from ideas you hold, yourself and the world around you. It includes your belief about God, your neighbours, your family, civil government, art, music, economics, history, education, morality, business, and all other areas of life. Your worldview is made up of a set of presumptions, principles of belief that give meaning to your worldview. Proverbs 23:7a “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he”
A worldview can be shaped by thoughts and ideas given to you by family, friends, society, teachers, books, magazines, newspapers, circumstances and situations etc. These worldviews can determine whether you look to man to solve the problems of life (humanism – man is the centre of life) or to God and His Word (a biblical worldview).
Some people’s worldview is more developed than others, but everybody has a worldview. If you believe you are a created being, responsible to your Creator for all things, then your worldview is dependent upon God for a proper understanding of the world. If you believe you are an independent, highly evolved animal, dependent upon no one, your worldview will reflect this attitude of self-centredness.
While some individuals deny the existence of God, a majority believe in “God” but define Him in their own terms. This is a form of idolatry (worship of something or someone else other than God). God is not denied, only redefined. Scripture, the Bible, must therefore be our standard for describing and defining the God in whom we believe. A Christian’s faith rests upon God’s word as the first principle for developing a clear view of the world.
Developing a biblical worldview can never be separated from Jesus’ dying on a cross to pay the penalty for man’s sin. If men and women do not turn to Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord, they will turn to themselves, to another individual, an idea, a movement or the state. Our choice of “saviour” determines our basis of trust and reason for living. Natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14)
The Bible does not divide life between sacred and secular, or spiritual or material. Jesus said, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) and “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). The Bible is God’s blueprint to us for righteous living.
A biblical worldview is developed by learning how God views the world. For this to happen we need a new heart (John 3;3,5), a new mind (Romans 12;2) and a new standard. The word of God must serve as the standard for equipping every Christian with all he or she will ever need to evaluate life (2 Timothy 3:16 and Hebrews 4:12). The word of God projects a standard before which all other standards must bow. The manufacturer knows best. He is our Creator. He knows best!
Each of us must choose his God. We have to choose who we will serve.