Tullian Tchividjian has written a blog that I thought was particularly interesting in finding balance in an age-old problem between being too removed from this world and being too relaxed in maintaining a distinction in lifestyle.

Quote from the above-linked posts that I thought were helpful in framing the handles of “removed” and “relaxed:”

Regarding being too removed:

Martin Luther was once approached by a shoemaker who enthusiastically announced that he had recently become a Christian. Wanting desperately to serve the Lord, he asked Luther, “What should I do now?” As if to say, “Should I become a minister, or perhaps a traveling evangelist? Or maybe I should make shoes only for missionaries and preachers?” Luther asked him, “What do you do now?” I’m a shoe maker.” Much to the cobbler’s surprise, Luther replied, “Then make a good shoe and sell it at a fair price.”

Regarding being too relaxed:

The great nineteenth-century evangelist D. L. Moody was once asked to describe what he thought the relationship between the church and the world ought to be. Should the church reject the world altogether — separating from it so as to avoid contamination? Or should the church embrace the world wholeheartedly — becoming just like it so as to reach the lost? The evangelist answered, “The place for the ship is in the sea; but God help the ship if the sea gets into it.”