D.A. Carson on Christian Living

From D.A. Carson's book, The Gagging of God:

"As long as American culture embraced so many Christian values, there were few easily observed cultural distinctives connected with being a Christian. As the culture shucks off this heritage, it is becoming more and more important for Christians to live in styles that openly conflict with the culture.

Perhaps we will not take a job promotion that would mean more time away from the family; perhaps we will choose a simpler lifestyle in order to give more away to missions and to the poor; perhaps we shall be so committed to elementary Christian discipleship that we shall be largely inured against flattery; perhaps we shall treat old and young, rich and poor, the well-connected and the socially unimportant, with the same degree of dignity and respect - a decidedly Christ-like characteristic.

Perhaps we shall be known as people who work at their marriages and love their children without trying to live their lives through them; perhaps we shall be known as people who are disciplined in their use of time, in what they watch on TV, in their freedom to make intelligent and moral judgments precisely because they are thoroughly committed to the living God; perhaps we shall be known as people who like to read, think, and talk about God and about right and wrong."