On Monday night I was at work and it was getting late, so there were less customers and it was starting to slow down a bit. Me and my coworkers were hanging out and talking and sharing hot takes and such, when the team lead for the night began interrogating us—like I said, it was slow and we were bored.

She turned to me—unknowing that I’m homeschooled and if she was I’m sure she would be less surprised—and asked, “Willow, have you ever drank?”

I told her no. She stared at me: “Really? Have you ever smoked?”

Again, I told her no. (I wouldn’t smoke in the first place, but somebody has respiratory issues, and also can be prone to fainting, so smoking would be a blast.)

Then she asked, “How bout drugs? Have you ever done drugs?”

Once again, I told her no. And her jaw dropped—did I really seem like a druggie to her?!—and she said, “That’s crazy.”

One of my other coworkers, Ryan, said, “Yeah, you kinda seem like a goody-two-shoes.” (Note: this is coming from the guy who is probably the nicest person at work and won’t say a mean thing to anybody and absolutely loves everybody.)

I’m over here like, “Okay, sure, getting teased for not doing DRUGS, I don’t really care.” We’re all joking and being dumb, they don’t mean anything by it, so whatever.

But guys: I’m seventeen. And while I’m not public-schooled—so I’m not as exposed to this stuff—I wouldn’t do it anyways if I was. Their expressions seemed so shocked when I said I hadn’t done any of those things, and I guarantee you: Ryan likely hasn’t done any of those things either.

Now, all my public-schooled friends—which is the majority of my friend group—have never done these things, but they’ve been exposed. (Because, hello, public-school. Need I say more?)

But their shock that I hadn’t done these things—because I know how to say no and make boundaries so that I’m not surrounding myself with those people—just shows that being ‘of the world’ isn’t as cool as we like to think it is.

In John 17, Jesus is praying and he says this: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.” (John 17:16 NIV)

When we claim to be Christians—little Christs—we are claiming that we are no longer of the world. And that means we have to live like it.

Living like it might mean not listening to secular music or wearing modest clothing or refraining from cussing. And some people might say, “Well that’s restrictive of your God.”

And they say that because they’re curious or confused and want to know: why are you different? What motivates you to be different like that, when the world is saying, “Do this, do that.”

It’s not badly restricting, although I suppose you could look at it that way if you wanted to. Rather, it’s setting a boundary and is a form of worship by dedicating our whole life to Christ in a way that glorifies Him and goes against the grain of the world that shuts Him out of their life.

You know how monks shave their head, live a life of chastity, and wear those robes? They are giving their full attention to God. And we can do this in our lives today.

Choose to wear clothing that glorifies God.

Speak words of love and kindness instead of gossiping or slandering others.

Say no to the porn or the drugs or the alcohol.

Be intentional with the content you consume.

These simple acts that can be implemented into our every day life plant seeds into the secular world’s mind.

I’d love to hear in the comments: how do you choose to live in a way that is not of the world but rather a life like Christ’s?

Thanks for reading! Have a great day.
~Willow