You Can’t Wear the World and Transform It

3 Reflections

1. The world tempts us to put itself on like a garment. In Joshua 7, a soldier named Achan defied God's clear command — nothing from the conquered city of Jericho was to be taken as spoil. But Achan found a beautiful robe from Babylon, silver, and gold, and he took them. In Scripture, Babylon isn’t just a city; it’s a symbol of the world system that opposes God (Genesis 11:1–9; Revelation 17–18). Achan's sin wasn’t just greed. It was the decision to clothe himself in the world.
   
   

2. What we carry in our hearts always finds its way into the open. After taking the robe and the plunder, Achan buried everything under his tent — and Israel's very next battle ended in stunning defeat. Thirty-six men died. One man's concealed compromise broke the momentum of an entire people. It’s tempting to think of our private accommodations to the world as personal matters. But what we allow in us shapes what flows out of us.
   
   

3. You cannot have influence on the world around you when you have the world within you. The danger is rarely the dramatic fall; it’s the slow, almost imperceptible putting-on of the world's values — one more Babylonian garment hidden in our tent. We begin to love what the world loves, fear what the world fears, and want what the world wants. And then we wonder why our lives are no longer marked by the victory of the cross. Salt that takes on the flavor of what it is meant to season has lost its usefulness.

   
   
   "The world has many attractions, but none of them are worthy of the dignity of a Christian soul." - A.W. Tozer

   2 Scriptures

   • "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world — the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life — is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."

     — 1 John 2:15–17

   • “But clothe yourself in the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires."

     — Romans 13:14

   1 Action

   Ask yourself:

   What have I put on that was never meant for me?

   This week, identify one garment you’ve taken on that belongs to Babylon:

   • Inventory: Spend five minutes asking the Lord to reveal any “robes of Babylon” you’ve picked up.

   • Remove it: Remove the access point, ask Jesus to replace this with something that demonstrates who He is, and notice the difference in your week.

   • Name it to someone: Find one person you trust and tell them the exchange you’re asking the Lord to make. The robe loses its grip when it's brought into the light.

   You were not made to wear Babylon. You were made to be clothed in Christ.

Grace and peace,

NEIL