A Broken Culture and its Holey Bible

How do we live and thrive in this culture that mocks and ridicules and yes, disgusts us?

You know the culture is in deep trouble when its members scream to be identified by their sin rather than the Savior. They demand to be labeled a certain way, parade their sin around for all to see, and rabidly force their filth upon the rest of us, demanding our approval, all while ridiculing our Savior. But perhaps worse than their ridicule is many of them pretending that Jesus approves of their sin, that He is love, so therefore He couldn’t possibly disapprove of their “love”. In their deception, they can even go so far as to say the Bible doesn’t speak against their sin.

Never mind those verses that specifically speak against homosexuality, i.e., Leviticus 20:13; 1 Corinthians 6:9; and 1 Timothy 1:10. Also, ignore all those pesky passages that explicitly condemn lust and sexual immorality. The Bible is just a dusty, outdated book anyway . . . unless, UNLESS you want to shriek at me not to judge, then feel free to cherry-pick Matthew 7:1 or Luke 6:37 and ignore the other 31,100 verses. Also never mind that we believers are instructed to make judgments, observe fruit, and differentiate between right and wrong, but that discussion will have to be for another post.

Speaking of cherry-picking, years ago our church’s drama team put on a skit wherein one of the characters toted a Bible with holes in the pages that looked like someone had removed the sections with a box knife, apparently a reverse sort of cherry-picking. I have recalled that scene often over the years and realize that is what far too many people are guilty of today, if they even consider the Bible at all. Just take out the parts that make you uncomfortable, like God will judge, and keep all the warm fuzzy parts, like God is love, then you can skip along happily all the way to hell, clutching your holey Bible.

So where do we go from here? How do we believers live and thrive in this culture that mocks and ridicules and yes, disgusts us? In Psalm 37, I find these comforting and encouraging words and refer to them often:

Do not fret because of evildoers,

Be not envious toward wrongdoers.

For they will wither quickly like the grass

And fade like the green herb.

Trust in the Lord and do good;

Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

Delight yourself in the Lord;

And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

He will bring forth your righteousness as the light

And your judgment as the noonday.

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him[.]

Psalm 37:1-7a

The entire psalm is so rich with hope and promise, I had to convince myself to stop at verse 7, but I highly recommend you read and contemplate the whole chapter. I guarantee that by the end you will feel a lot better about the world and who’s in charge! But let’s break down the first seven verses.

In them we find some instructions, some imperatives, where God gives us a handy list of what to do to live in this culture:

1. Do not fret.

2. Do not be envious.

3. Trust in the Lord.

4. Do good.

5. Dwell in the land.

6. Cultivate faithfulness.

7. Commit your way to Him.

8. Trust in Him.

9. Rest in Him.

10. Wait patiently for Him.

I don’t know about you, but if I focus on doing those, if I pour all my mental, emotional, and spiritual energies into making sure I do those ten things, my mind and heart will be focused and occupied in a healthy way. I’ll have my eyes zeroed in on God, resting in Him, trusting Him, and waiting for Him. So if I do happen to inadvertently catch a glimpse of a “pride” parade or a “drag queen” story hour, it will be filtered through the assurance of God’s everlasting promises and peace . . . and judgment. (It might even lessen the urge to vomit, but He doesn’t explicitly make that promise.)

By the way, did you notice that “trust” is mentioned twice in the passage? Maybe it’s extra important…

But look, there is something else in the passage. In addition to the list of what we are to do, there’s a description of what our mighty God will do on our behalf. Check it out:

1. He will give you the desires of your heart.

2. He will make your righteousness and justice shine.

OK, what does that mean? Obviously, I get the first one. He’s going to give me what I want. That’s easy to understand, right? But is it? What are the desires of my heart? I admit they’re not always lined up with His, and I’ll be much better off if He doesn’t give me what I want. A better question is what will the desires of my heart be if I’m continually focused on doing as instructed in the first list?

I’m going to venture a guess that as I concentrate on being thankful rather than envious, and if I am busy doing good, and I am purposefully trusting and patiently waiting on Him to work, and I am continually committing my way to Him, my heart’s desires will be lovely and self-denying. In other words, they’re going to be the opposite of whatever the world says I should do or want or be.

Next, let’s look at number 2 in the “what God’s going to do for me” list above. What does it mean for our righteousness and justice to shine? And to shine like the noonday sun? A word picture is forming in my mind of something really, really bright, as bright as the Oklahoma sun we’re currently enjoying (enduring?), along with heat indices of 100+ degrees. It’s a really bright light. It’s also hot.

And what does our culture need right now? (If your first response is “to be burned up”, that’s not where I wanted to take the sun analogy . . . )

Aside from judgment, what do the marchers and screamers and mixed up folks playing dress up need right now?

What do these humans who are stumbling around in the darkness need most?

LIGHT.

They need someone to turn on the light. Someone to shine the light. Someone to BE the light. They need someone who shows them the heart of God by obeying Him. By being righteous. Not holier-than-thou, mind you. Not condescending or hateful. Holy. As He is holy.

You see, the lost ones need us to lift up that boulder they’re under and expose them to the light of the gospel so they can see. They need us to shine the light of the gospel into the eyes of their hearts, to speak the truth in love, to cultivate faithfulness by living out our faith in front of them.

“Cultivate” means to try to acquire or develop. We can help others to acquire faith and then help them develop their faith. In order to do that, we must be the Light by lovingly and kindly speaking truth, by infusing them with hope through our words, and by showing them love through our deeds. Even the angry, mean people. Especially them. I believe Jesus called it loving our enemies.

Hard stuff. Especially since they tend to want to see us fail and fall.

In 1 Peter 3:16, we are instructed to “keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.” We must guard our minds and actions so that we give them no ammunition to use against us.

In addition, the preceding verse reminds us to be always ready to give account for the hope we have…but to do it gently and reverently. In other words, we need to be good Christians, excellent Christ followers, image bearers of the glorious God we claim to serve. Let us be the kind of people that hopeless souls are drawn to because of our Savior living in us.

A lesson I first learned in my 20s (and am still learning), back in the dark ages when I worked in an office, helped me have compassion on these kinds of people. One of the women there was crass and foul-mouthed and could be pretty mean. The Lord convicted me to see her as He saw her…someone in need of grace and hope. Seeing her through God’s eyes changed my heart toward her, and gave me the ability to extend grace to her, to pity her, to understand that she was the way she was because she needed Jesus.

All the reprobates (in the unprincipled sense, not the Calvinistic damned sense) in our culture, quite simply, need Jesus. People who have met Him and have experienced the indescribable joy of redemption don’t spew hate and filth and flaunt their sexual deviancy. They don’t wave a banner with a co-opted rainbow and an alphabet soup acronym for their various perversions. They don’t mock the Savior or proudly demand to be identified by their sin. No, someone who truly knows Jesus exudes joy, walks in the Light, and shares the hope of the gospel with others.

That’s what we must do. It is what I must do. And as I write this, I am convicted that I need to be bold and purposefully witness more, and not be afraid of their reactions. Because the fact is, some will malign us. Some will be angry. Not everyone will listen, not everyone will turn away from their sin and toward the Light of Christ. But some will. Some will repent and embrace the free gift of salvation, choosing to then be identified by the Savior rather than their sin. For those, and for all in their circles of influence, our dwelling in the land and cultivating faithfulness will make an eternal difference.

So how do we live and thrive in this culture? By dwelling in the land and cultivating faithfulness. By trusting, doing, committing, waiting, resting. God will sort it all out (Matthew 25, et al.) and will someday make all things new (Revelation 21:5). We have much to look forward to!

The culture, these people, desperately need the hope we have. Will we offer it?

“Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.” -Galatians 6:9

Janice Powell 2022

Note: If my words have angered you, I invite you to ask God to open your eyes and heart so that you desire to search deeper into Scripture and find forgiveness and redemption. If biblical truth sounds like foolishness to you, that is confirmation that you are lost, dead in sin, and headed for hell (1 Corinthians 1:18). The funny thing about truth is that it doesn’t change based on who believes it or who is speaking it. Truth is truth because truth is Jesus Christ (John 14:6), and He doesn’t change (Malachi 3:6). That in itself is a very comforting truth–if He has redeemed you and called you His own.

Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? -Romans 2:4

[F]or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God[.] -Romans 3:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. -Romans 6:23

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. -1 John 1:9

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. -2 Corinthians 5:17

All Scripture is taken from the New American Standard Bible (1995).