The world is always discipling you. When in college, the attempts are intense. Every day, your phone, your friends, your entertainment, and your culture are shaping the way you think, what you value, and how you live. Scripture never calls Christians to retreat from the world, but it does warn us not to become like it. If we are going to influence our culture for Christ, we cannot allow our culture to become our greatest influence.
I learned that lesson on a mission trip to South Asia. A few friends and I quickly became local celebrities after beating a group of amateur basketball players. People even started calling us the “great white giants.” We thought we were pretty good until the next night when the country’s best team challenged us in front of hundreds of spectators.
We got embarrassed.
The difference wasn’t that we had suddenly become worse basketball players. We had simply been comparing ourselves to the wrong standard. Against average competition, we looked impressive. Against elite competition, we realized how far we had to go.
Spiritually, we often make the same mistake. Compared to the average college student, we may look like we’re doing well. Compared to God’s holiness, we quickly realize how much we still need His grace. Our standard isn’t the culture around us. Our standard is a holy God who calls us to “be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).
In the World, Not of the World
Jesus never prayed for His followers to escape the world. Instead, He prayed that the Father would keep them from the evil one while they remained in it (John 17:15-16). Christians are not called to isolation. We are called to influence.
The problem comes when the influence starts flowing in the wrong direction. Instead of shaping the culture, the culture begins shaping us. Little by little, our theology starts giving way to popular opinion. Our convictions soften. Our standards shift. Before long, we no longer look much different than everyone else.
That’s why every believer should regularly ask a simple question:
Who is influencing me more than I’m influencing them?
Three Warning Signs
The drift rarely happens overnight. It usually follows a predictable pattern.
1. Callused
Paul warned believers about developing hardened hearts that eventually lead to sinful living (Ephesians 4:18-19).
The first sign is that sin no longer bothers you. You start excusing things that once convicted you. Movies, music, conversations, and jokes that once made you uncomfortable become normal. You begin saying things like, “It wasn’t that bad,” or, “Everybody watches it.”
A callused heart no longer feels the sting of sin.
2. Compromised
Once our hearts become desensitized, compromise follows.
Jeremiah said God’s people had reached the point where they no longer knew how to blush over their sin (Jeremiah 6:15). They weren’t only tolerating sin. They had become comfortable with it. Christians often don’t compromise through outright rebellion. More often, we compromise by slowly lowering our standards until they resemble the culture around us instead of the holiness of God.
If we laugh at what Christ died to save us from, we’ve already begun to compromise.
3. Conformed
Paul’s warning in Romans 12:2 is straightforward: “Do not be conformed to this age.”
Conformity happens when the world shapes your thinking more than God’s Word. You begin making decisions based primarily on success, popularity, relationships, or comfort instead of faithfulness to Christ. You stop asking, “What glorifies God?” and start asking, “What does everyone else think?”
It is almost impossible to transform a culture when you’ve already been transformed by it.
Choose Better Influences
One summer while working at youth camp, our staff was required to drink large amounts of water because of the intense heat. I had always preferred soft drinks, but after weeks of drinking mostly water, I noticed something surprising. I actually felt better. The more healthy things I put into my body, the less I craved the unhealthy ones.
The same principle applies spiritually.
When I began filling my life with God’s Word, Christ-honoring music, healthy friendships, and encouraging influences, I found myself craving the things of God more than the things of the world.
Paul tells believers to think about whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8). Whatever consistently shapes your mind will eventually shape your life. If you want to impact your world for Christ, pay close attention to what is influencing you today. Because it’s difficult to impact a world that’s influencing you.
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