Daniel DeValve who is majoring in Floral Arrangement (just kidding) at Cedarville with flowers he had just picked for his Mom for Mother's Day. Daniel is majoring in International Studies.
Now on an entirely different note, a thought that has been circulating in my cranium and also in my heart is this, "What Gospel have we believed?" Of course we have believed and received the Gospel message that we are lost sinners in need of a saviour and that Jesus Christ, God's Son, through his sacrificial death upon the cross purchased for us our eternal salvation. That we gladly and willingly affirm. But it seems to me that many of us--or I'll limit that to me and perhaps "many" like me--have been taught and perpetuated another "gospel" and I speak now of "truth," not the salvation message, and that "gospel" defines us more by what we are not than by what we are. We have more or less subscribed to the notion that the most important thing in the Christian life is to not be "worldly" and by not being "worldly" we mean that there is a long list of things that are proscribed. And many of them likely should be proscribed, others, however have no more bearing on true holiness than some of the rules concocted by the Pharisees.
We have--and wrongly, I submit--concluded that to not be "worldly" is to be "spiritual." Indulge me, please, for a few moments more. I submit to you this thought to mull over: We have it all in reverse. This emphasis should not be on the avoidance of worldliness but on the thirsting for and seeking for God and His righteousness. If we are truly spiritual (seeking the Spirit's empowering to live holy lives with an ever growing desire to know and love God) then we will not be worldly. But simply to not be worldly does not necessarily equal being spiritual.