A Cultural Difference

…He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.                        1 Timothy 6:15-16

When I became a Christian it made a radical difference in the way I understood things, and in the way I responded to things. My husband and children saw the change, as did our extended family.

One of the first changes in me was that I wanted to study the Bible. God’s Word gave me a new outlook, an understanding that His ways are better than our ways, and a desire to do all things His way.

Shortly after I came to faith, the Lord also brought my husband to saving faith. He, too, changed over time. One could say that there was a big change in the culture inside our home. We were different and we understood that our lives would be better – better for us and better for our children  – if we did things God’s way.

Over the last two years it seems that everywhere I turn someone is trying to teach me that Christians should not be changing the culture around us. I am baffled by this teaching.

If we go back to the earliest recorded history in the scriptures, God wanted His people to be making a difference in what people did and how they thought. He had the Israelites tear down idols and stop the practice of child sacrifice. Paul was always teaching about the changes that needed to be made – think about his approach to the men of Athens as they worshiped “the unknown God.” He clearly was attempting to convince them that worshiping Christ would be beneficial to them in a way that the worship of this idol was not. He was changing what they did in their culture, through education. (Acts 17:23)

John the Baptist went to the people and taught repentance of sins. He must have mentioned what those sins were and that God’s way was better. He went right to the King and called him to obey God’s law that forbid him from marrying his brother’s wife.

I read a book called, “How Christianity Changed the World.” In it the author goes through years of history of Christians starting hospitals, orphanages, and ministering to the widow – just as the scriptures tell us to do. These institutions have brought great and positive changes to the cultures they served  because they have extended lives, and through medicine and nutrition, caused people to live better for the years they were alive.

We have stopped believing we should have any effect on the culture and have succeeded well beyond what is good for us or future generations. The number of murders of babies in the womb has multiplied.  Our own brothers and sisters in the Lord are being sued and going bankrupt because they refuse to defy God on the issue of marriage.  “The culture” thinks they should defy God rather than man.  Talk to a schoolteacher who has taught for many years, let her tell you about the change in culture without a Christian influence in the public school system.

Can we please rethink this issue? If the culture in my own home had not changed when my husband came to Christ – I (and most other Christians) would have thought there had been no real Christ-like influence in his life.

If we see no Christ-like change in our nation, then there is not enough Christ-like influence in the culture. It needs to change.