Living in Three worlds and ruined for life.

I am reading a book written by Kay Warren called Dangerous Surrender. Kay is Rick Warren’s wife. Rick is the author of a Purpose Driven Life. I have read this book before but decided I need to reread it.

A section in the book where she talks about her THREE worlds helps me understand the challenges I face daily and also helps us to align our worldview if we are a Christian.

The three are:

My world

The suffering world

The spiritual world

The first one is where I make my living and raise my family. It is a world of supermarkets, malls, affluence and plenty. It is a world where I interact daily with family, neighbors, coworkers and fellow church members. It is a place where I need to make my faith real not just theoretical.

The second world is where many people around the planet live, the struggling world. They live in deprivation, struggle for survival and experience great need. Spiritual emptiness, corrupt leadership, extreme poverty, pandemic diseases and crippling illiteracy dominate this world. Many children are left without parents in this world. You and I have the opportunity to be the hands and feet to these children.

The third world is the unseen spiritual world. The most real world of all. This is the place where I am united with God through a person, serve a meal at a homeless shelter, travel outside of your own neighborhood, hold an HIV positive baby, and go on a short term mission trip, anything that puts you in direct contact with hurting people. As long as suffering people are a mere statistic to you, you will never become ruined for life. When suffering becomes personal, with faces and names and when you hear their stories you will never be able to stay disconnected.

Will you rise to the challenge and allow God to ruin you?

You will be forever altered in how you relate to others in your life and the world.