Suppose you could travel to one of the most remote areas of the world and find a tribesman who had never known anything but life in the jungle, without any knowledge of the modern world or its contrivances. Suppose you took him to one of America’s large cities and left him to fend for himself. You can only imagine the emotions he would feel, the problems he would encounter, and how he would respond to the new environment.

It would be easy to perceive such a person as “out of touch” with the real world, but that would not be an accurate assessment. The flummoxed man would not be out of touch with the real world, he would only be out of touch with our world. In Acts 17, the apostle Paul standing on the Acropolis declared to those idol-worshiping Athenians, that “in God we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28) What he was referring to was the real world.

As Christians, we need to remember that God’s world is the real world. As the old hymn says, “This is my Father’s world.” It is his by right of creation and also by right of redemption. To the faithless eye this world is simply material, impersonal, and controlled by natural laws. To believing eyes the world is God’s magnificent work of art, his sanctuary, and the object of his special attention and affection.

This is why the way of the unbeliever will never work in God’s world any more than the way of an Amazonian tribesman would work in downtown New York City. No one who is out of touch with God can be properly in touch with this world. To help us view this world as God’s world, we need to see ourselves relating to him in three ways:

1. We are his creatures.

We are not on this earth by any random process of evolution but by divine design. As the Psalmist declared, “It is He who has made us and not we ourselves.” (Psalm 100:3) Remembering this will help us conquer our pride. A man who believes the world is his oyster will live for the here and now. Living with that perspective leads to a materialistic lifestyle where happiness is sought in things. He’ll pride himself for achieving worldly success or condemn himself for failing to reach it. Understanding our creaturehood and seeing the greatness of God in creation will lead us to true humility.

2. We are his children.

If seeing God as Creator confronts our pride, seeing Him as our Father confronts our fears. There is great security in the knowledge that God is our Father. We know that in Christ we are unconditionally accepted by God, and that “as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear him.” (Psalm 103:13)

This world can be a scary place, and millions of people struggle with worry and fear an uncertain future. As Christians, remembering this is our Father’s world and that we are his children brings a comfort and peace those without Jesus cannot experience.

3. We are his servants.

Salvation brings meaning and purpose to our lives in this world. Being set free from sin we become servants of righteousness. (Romans 6:18) We begin to see the world as a place to serve the Lord out of love and gratitude for all he has done for us through Jesus Christ. A proper understanding of his amazing grace will always result in grateful service.

As we grow in our faith, we’ll come to see this world as God’s stage of redemption, a world that one day will be liberated from the bondage of decay, and where Jesus Christ will reign in glory. This is what establishes our mission. We understand that we’re here to expand the kingdom Jesus inaugurated and will one day bring to full and final fruition.

We’re not really living in the “real world” until we live humbly in light of our creature-hood, live securely in our Father’s love, and live obediently in faithful service.