How much of the world?

I have been thinking a lot lately about how much like the world I still am even while being so different. Worldly ideas and worldly thinking are so deeply ingrained into my thought pattern that its seems it will truly take this lifetime to be rid of it. (at the time of glorification!)
What areas do I struggle with the most in worldly thinking? Educating my children? Do I set out each day to raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord or do I think that, pray for that and then proceed to our academic lessons just to find at the end of the day the teaching I did was not that much different from any teacher of the world? The setting was different, that individual attention give was different but did I teach them Christ today? More than just the Bible lesson that I hope I got around to? Do I have educational goals that are different from this world? Do I care more for their spiritual life than their visible, earthly life?

What about my desire to have them fit in with the kids in our new neighborhood? I found myself hoping they would be accepted and liked by all the kids outside playing. What a jolt when I heard the language that came from one young mans mouth. Did I really just sit there and hope that they would fit in and be accepted into that world? How then am I teaching them to be holy and set apart? I should instead be praying that the Lord would use them and protect them in this situation. But for a moment I wanted them to be liked and accepted by man.....

How about for myself? How many activities do I engage in that are not spiritually profitable? Am I "allowed" to do so? YES! There are books I can read, shows I can watch, and songs that I can sing that would not be sin for me to partake of. Does that mean that I should? I think sometimes we spend so much time defending what we are allowed to do that we don't stop to think of how these things affect our walk with Christ. Does it grow me spiritually? Is it profitable to my walk, my relationship with the Lord? Am I using it in a way to serve Christ thru it? I believe these are questions I should ask myself before engaging in these activities.

That said, do I think that these questions should be asked by all Christians? I hesitate to say yes because I know they aren't being asked by all who know Christ. Who am I to say that another believer should cultivate their relationship with the Lord in the same way that I would? If I have been convicted in certain areas by the Holy Spirit and if He has changed my thinking on things then am I to say that He is wrong for not having done so in another's heart and mind?
Sometimes we want so badly to think that every christian must be the same in every way that when others are not where we are we judge them wrongly and sometimes harshly. Some names that come to mind are: legalist, liberal, lost, carnal, a pharisee, a fundamentalist and on and on....Yes, there are people that legitimately fit in these categories. But how careful we must be before we judge harshly and critically. This growth and sanctification is the Spirits work in our life and its for Him to produce in us and us to bear. Who are we to judge another's servant in areas that belong to him and the Lord?
How do we know the sovereignty of God and the work of the Holy Spirit and still dare judge another that may slightly disagree with us ?

I know I am guilty of all of it......its called sin and thats why we do it. There is no other excuse, no justification.......its sin.

Melissa