Our worldview is formed throughout our lives as we begin to formulate answers for the big questions in life. Questions like: Where did we come from? Why are we here? What purpose are we to fulfill? Where are we ultimately headed? The answers to those questions then form the compass we use to find our way in this world. Let’s compare a couple of worldviews for illustration.

For atheistic materialists, who believe there is no spiritual component to existence, the answers to the questions above have to be, “I am a random collection of molecules governed by the chaotic forces of nature,” “I am not here for any reason,” “there is no purpose,” and “I am ultimately headed toward non-existence.”

For Christians, the answers to the questions have to be, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made by a Sovereign God who knows and loves me,” “I have been placed here by Him as part of His good and perfect plan for the world,” “My daily purpose is to love Him and live for Him,” and “Because of trust in Christ alone for salvation, I am headed toward eternal glory with the lover of my soul.”

How does this have implications for our witness? Three points come to mind.

The Christian worldview describes the world as it actually is

One of my favorite parts of explaining the gospel to people is talking about the way the world is and how it perfectly aligns with what the Bible teaches. You can almost see the checklist of what the Bible affirms: We all realize something is broken with how we interact with each other (check); we all recognize the world is not as it should be (check); we all have our own standard of how we should live, and we fail to live up to it (check). In the Biblical narrative, this is all summed up perfectly in the consequences of the Fall.

Atheistic and many other worldviews have to try to find several creative ways to dodge these truths that are apparent to everyone. On the other hand, Christians who are mindful of their worldview are able to affirm all of the above within the Bible’s framework and point people to both the reason for the problem and the solution in Christ.

The Christian worldview allows us to live consistently with our beliefs

Christians have the freedom to live according to their worldview. That seems like something that would be true for all worldviews – but it isn’t. For example, the atheistic worldview mentioned at the beginning of this article is required for materialistic atheism. However – and this is critically important – people who hold to this worldview cannot live consistently within it. Their worldview may require them to hold that everything is just “molecules in motion,” but they would never accept being treated that way by others. They want to be respected, dignified, loved, and treated fairly – all of which is in direct opposition to their worldview (and directly aligns with a Christian worldview). As Christians, we have the opportunity to lovingly point this out to them.

The same is true for other religious worldviews outside of Christianity. By default, they all hold to some view of “works-based salvation.” However, this worldview can’t possibly be true because, as mentioned above, everyone recognizes that we are part of the problem. Problems don’t solve themselves. They need an outside agent to intervene.

Our worldview points people toward or away from Christ

In the last section, I mentioned “we have the freedom to live according to our worldview.” However, the Bible also makes it clear that we have the freedom to do the opposite. For example, the Bible states we have the freedom to “grieve the Spirit (Eph 4:30),” and “quench the Spirit (1 Thess 5:19).” Also, when we consider that Paul’s rebukes in his letters are almost always to “brothers and sisters in Christ,” we can clearly glean that is possible to be a Christian who either ignores or forgets his/her Christian worldview.

There are certainly consequences for us when we quench or grieve the Spirit in this way, but the purpose of this article is to touch on the consequences to our witness to others. We no longer shine for Christ but instead begin to be “conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2). As a result, we no longer live to redirect culture and point people to Christ, but instead we become people of culture.  Our desire to live differently and to proclaim the gospel to a lost world begins to fade because we become more and more identified with the world we once declared was lost. What’s important to keep in mind here is that Christians don’t “lose a worldview” when this happens; they simply live out of the wrong one. Such a move has a disastrous impact on our witness.

Quite simply, knowing your worldview as a Christian and bringing it into your day to day life matters greatly – not just to you, but to those who desperately need to know the Light of World.