The city frames a multitude of mentalities. Millions of people interact
with each other in a context that beckons them to hope. In this unceasing bustle people
laugh and cry, they doubt and they dare, they work and they play, they hate and they love,
and really, they try to live. It is through billions of relationships that people
communicate to each other, directly or indirectly, their opinions about life and what it
is meant to be.
These opinions (called a worldview) stand at the very core of an
individual's belief system. Someone who believes that death is the end of existence will
concentrate on the present, while another who believes that there is life after death will
prepare now for the future. Similarly, someone who believes that man evolved, will derive
his values from himself or those around him, while another who believes that man was
created by God for a purpose will derive his values from God. These opinions will guide
everything else he does. His opinion of life is the standard by which he lives all of
life. "Might makes right," or so it seems. The more influential a person is
in the life of another, the more he communicates his worldview. The Christian finds
himself under a constant barrage-subtle and strong-of worldviews. From university podiums
to Wall Street pulpits and from the shopkeeper at the corner to the superstar on
centerstage, these worldviews threaten to erode the very foundation on which Christians
seek to build their lives-the inspired revelation of God, the Bible. To them another
foundation is sinking sand, and equally dangerous, a mixed foundation is shifting
sand. The responsibility of the Christian is to submit to the authority of Scripture and
to ensure that his views about life are derived from it. The better he meets this
responsibility, the better he will live and show others how to live. Might may not
make right, but Right (Truth) makes life. In the end one's life will make a
difference-for better or for worse-in a multitude of mentalities.