NON-CHRISTIANS MAY KNOW WHAT ‘NOTW’ STANDS FOR, BUT NOT WHAT IT TRULY MEANS.
Most non-Christians are confounded when they see vehicles on the road with an NOTW sticker affixed to the window or bumper.
They either don’t know what the letters stand for or – if someone clues them in – they don’t know what exactly the phrase means.
Not of This World.
Two polls provide some insight. One, from the Public Religion Research Institute, was released a few weeks ago. The other, from Baylor University, was released last year.
In the PRRI survey, 81 percent of the 2,500 sampled said that religion played an important role in their lives. And most of those said they believe they are living in a country with a divinely ordained place in human history.
What’s interesting is that 20 percent of those surveyed confided that they were jobless at some point or another during the past two years. Some 42 percent identified themselves as either working class or lower income. Yet, most thought there were better days ahead.
That optimism in the face of economic adversity is irrational to those without a faith life. That explains the finding by Baylor researchers that people who are worriers, who are maudlin, who are depressed are less likely to attend church or consider themselves very religious.
Conversely, said Kevin Dougherty, a sociologist who worked on the Baylor study, “What we picked up on is, religion is a motivator for people who say that, despite their circumstances, they believe with hard work things will get better, and, maybe by God’s grace and help, we are going to make it.”
Indeed, 73 percent of those surveyed by Baylor said they believe God has a plan for their lives. And those who accept that God is in control, who humbly submit themselves to His divine will, have a peace that surpasses all understanding.
That’s what NOTW means.
Those who are not of this world know that nothing shall separate them from the love of Christ. Not tribulation, distress or persecution. Not a the loss of a job or a home foreclosure. Not a bad prognosis from the doctor or the passing of a loved one. Not the betrayal of friends or the attacks of enemies.
We are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.
As the Apostle Paul proclaimed, “Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
