To live in this age will always be a mixed bag. We will always be dual citizens. We can appreciate and celebrate all that is true and good and beautiful in this world. But we also know that there is so much that is evil and horrible and ugly and demonic. We have to live with both passports in hand: enjoying the goodness of God’s creation while mourning all that sin and selfishness has done to mar everything. Living with such tension is not always easy, but we must try to get the balance right.

When I first moved permanently to Australia long ago (having an Australian wife was my excuse), I could not get Australian citizenship unless I gave up my American citizenship. I chose to stay as I was. Later on, however that requirement was dropped, and I can now hold two passports simultaneously if I want. But being a bit lazy, hating forms and spending money, I have not yet become an Aussie citizen!

The Christian knows about such dual citizenship issues. We became citizens of heaven after being adopted into God’s family through Christ. But we still live in this world, which in so many ways is enemy territory, a place at war against God. But we also understand that God made this world, and even though the Fall has tarnished everything under the sun, it is still part of his original good creation.

So we can appreciate so much of what is found in this world, be it a good day’s work, appreciation of beauty, close relationships, eating a nice meal, engaging in sports, cultivating strong friendships, and a million other things. But the world system as such is at enmity with God, so we are not to be friends with the world in that sense.

In some ways we are to affirm the world, and in other ways we are to deny the world. It can be a bit tricky at times, but that is part of how it is to be a Christ-follower in a fallen world. See much more detail on this matter here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2022/08/16/world-affirming-or-world-denying/

Again, while we do not want to get overly attached to this world and everything in it, we can still enjoy it, appreciate it, and use it for God and his glory. What we do, we can do with thanksgiving, giving glory to God. This can include so many things, whether taking pride in a bookcase you just constructed, enjoying a beautiful sunset, or having a terrific weekend together with close friends.

All the things that we can rightly and properly enjoy in this life are but foretastes of that which is to come. There will be after all a new heaven and a new earth. So it seems that much of the good stuff we enjoy in this life will be with us in the next.

But at the same time we must be on guard: there is of course so much that is evil, ungodly, sinful and diabolical in this world. We need to have the same attitude to this as did Christ and the early believers. They were well aware of how much this world is at odds with the world to come.

They knew that the Kingdom of God was at variance with the kingdoms of this world. As such, they were deeply grieved and bothered by sin and evil and idolatry. We especially see this being played out in the book of Acts. What we read about Paul as he went to Athens to share the gospel is a clear case in point.

This is what we find in Acts 17:16: “Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.” This great city was clearly at odds with God and his values, as idolatry was rife and false beliefs prevailed.

A few scholarly remarks are worth sharing here before continuing. I. Howard Marshall says this in his 1980 commentary:

Although Athens had once been the intellectual centre of the ancient world, it was now in a period of decline. It was a free city and had a famous university, but it tended to live on its reputation.

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