For a three-year period, back in the 90's our entire family was living in Mexico City or "Durante tres anos, nosotros vivimos en la Ciudad de Mexico".
It's interesting how over time, our memories become very selective. When some people look back at their childhood, they may remember the good things and forget the bad. An entire eight years of elementary school is often remembered through vivid still photos of friends gathered together like team photos and programs from school plays.
The things I remember now about Mexico was the culture. We really enjoyed the culture: the people, the customs, the music, the food. Ah, the food. Don't be fooled into thinking that Taco Bell somehow represents anything similar to Mexican cuisine. My daughter-in-law, who is a Mexican now living in the US won't even consider eating anything from Taco Bell.
The other thing I remember the most about Mexico and the culture is knowing that I wasn't home. It was a world that I was in, a culture that I was definitely interacting with and something that I would most certainly learn from and enjoy but I wasn't home. The United States was my home and no matter how much we became immersed in Mexico including speaking primarily Spanish rather than English, we still were not "of" Mexico.
Here was a life lesson for me as well as a theological lesson as well.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus prays:
"I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it" (John 17:14-17)
This is a big question, "How can we that follow Jesus be in the world, but not of the world?"
My theological training (which is limited) tells me that the word "world" in this passage is the Greek word, "cosmos" which most often refers to the inhabited earth and the world "system" which is ruled by Satan. This is an easy explanation then on how we are to not be part of the "worldly system" but we should be living a separate, holy life.
My experiences in Mexico however teach me a more experiential truth. We may be in this world now but we long to go back home. That longing to be home should be so real and so present within us that no matter what our experiences, our situations and our present condition, our mind and our being should be "in Christ".
Another good passage that relates to this subject is Romans 12:1-2
In this passage, the Apostle Paul tells that we are to conform ourselves, and our minds, to that of Jesus Christ. While I don't usually quote from the Message Bible (if you are over 40, I don't think it's usually allowed), I remember that this passage is especially appropriate in the modern language, read on...
"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."
Like I said earlier, my Spanish is not as good as it used to be but that time in Mexico helped me understand that the culture or the world around me may be where I need to spend a lot of my time, but not necessarily my affection. My affection, my attention needs to be fixed on God. If I do this well, He'll help me bring out the best in me and let me become the person He wants me to become.
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