Perched on my lawn chair peering over my pool, I tried to process what I had read and heard. What I had been reading and hearing for a long time. But now it was time to try to make sense of it all.
Christian stars who speak to the masses, write books, and stand tall while wide-eyed Christians hang on every word.
We see multitudes flocking to hear their words while they applaud what they say – even if it doesn’t line up with Scripture. Many cheering on their crass efforts to appear cool and relevant, even if it teeters on the edge of unholiness.
Recently I saw a Facebook post by a popular author and speaker who addressed a controversial cultural issue with disregard to biblical truth from either a place of lack-of-knowledge or indifference. Her post was shared over 14,000 times and liked more than 44,000 times. I scrolled through some other posts where I found curse words touted as if somehow her expressed use of them would give us all permission to use them as well.
God calls us to holiness.
“Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.” Leviticus 20:26
Living like people who have been changed by the One who saved them.
“Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ…” Phil 1:27
Perhaps the issue is not that so many blatantly disregard God’s Word. Maybe the problem is rooted in a lack of knowledge. The Bible says we err in not knowing the Scriptures. (Matthew 22:29)
Sweet friends, God’s Word speaks life to our lives. It reveals our deepest needs, helps us see where we fall short, gives wisdom, power, faith, and truth.
In our drive-thru world, where we want things now and we want them our way, we are snacking on short and sweet tidbits of eye-appealing graphic Scripture memes instead of devouring the sacred pages of God’s Word and saturating our hearts and minds in Truth.
Books, blogs, magazines, messages, and even songs – are all designed to meet a felt need – all designed to meet us where we are. Nothing wrong with that, is there? The only problem is that many of them leave us there and give us an excuse to stay stuck in the less-than-abundant life than what Jesus died to give us.
We weren’t saved to remain the same. Becoming a new creation in Christ is a catalyst to consistent life-change. We are supposed to be growing, becoming stronger, wiser, more diligent, more holy.
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” 2 Cor 3:18 (ESV)
Christianity, by it’s very nature, calls for us to be changed and to change.
Coming to know Christ changes us as people, as women, as wives, as mothers, as employers and employees, as friends, as servants of God, as ministry leaders… in every way, Jesus changes us. He changes us because He abides in us. He changes us because it is His life lived through us. He changes us because we can not embrace a life-changing encounter with Christ and remain the same.
In a world desperate for the gray, God sees things in black and white.
He never wonders if something is right or wrong. He isn’t confused by cultural issues of the day. He sees in black and white.
Not black and white that’s devoid of love and grace and mercy. God, by His very existence, defines those characteristics because they are who He is, not just a description of His character.
But there is no gray with God. Not one shade of gray.
But the journey is hard and the world is SO dark, and Christians are all in different places in their walk with the Lord and their study of His Word. So many aren’t sure how Christians are to respond in a culture that runs contrary to Truth.
Love sounds right… biblical… and it is. But love without truth isn’t real love.
God demonstrates His love for us in that while we are STILL sinners, Christ died for us. But His death was not only for the forgiveness of our sins, but also for the DELIVERANCE from them. Jesus met people where they were, offered them salvation… when they received Christ, He said, “Go and sin no more.”
These are difficult days we live in and the voices we raise must be raised with grace – with love – but also with Truth.
We need to be more concerned about being biblically accurate instead of culturally correct.
So what does cultural Christianity look like?
- It embraces sin in the name of grace – and at the expense of truth
- It doesn’t line up with Scripture
- It wants to err on the side of grace but disregards God’s Word
- It’s more focused on being cool and relevant than being biblical
- It’s focused on feelings instead of Truth
- It majors on our needs and minors on the Lord and His Word
- It fills us with excuses rather than equips us with the power to overcome
- It leaves us where we are and makes us feel good about it, rather than calls us to be more like Jesus
- It’s based on feelings, not on faith
- It highlights Christian ‘stars’ without understanding that they are just servants and Jesus is the only Star
- It’s more worried about the latest quote from a favorite author or speaker instead of being completely addicted to God’s Word
SO… WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS? DO YOU STRUGGLE WITH EMBRACING CULTURAL CHRISTIANITY? HAVE YOU SEEN OTHERS STRUGGLE WITH IT?
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