Threads and Trends

Recently, I was sharing at a small group meeting on matters centering on the Christian faith. I submitted that the Christian faith is a belief system, but not just that. It is also a way of life. This means that downstream to the gospel message that we believe, we are brought into a way of life, into a culture.

All through the scriptures, this is a consistent theme. It finds form in Abraham and fulfillment in Christ. We see a similitude of that in the Children of Israel. For the Jew, the essentials of his culture are an expression of his religion. So, to a large extent, his culture, at the heart of it, is the practice of his religion. This holds for the believer. His Christian faith defines and becomes his culture. This also explains why a group of people were observed about  2000 years ago and subsequently called Christians, due in part to the similarities of their lives to the life of Christ, the pervasiveness of such similarities amongst them, and the obvious difference that existed between them and the context they were found in.

Acts 11:26
[26]And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

The Christian has been called out. This implies the dual reality of being called unto and being called out of. It’s the reality of being different without being discriminatory, being separate without being segregated.

2 Corinthians 6:17-18
[17]Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
[18]And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

The modern-day believer, however, thinks the pathway can be re-invented. He wants to be saved but not adopt the culture of the kingdom. He wants to be called out and, at the same time, be identified with the world systems he has been called out from.

He is current with all the latest styles, threads, trends, and happenings of the world. And he does all he can to be in the know of things. However, he can’t remember the last time he perceived the mind of God on any issue. He is not concerned that his love has waxed cold, his passion for lost souls virtually nonexistent, and his fellowship time with God is now only of historical relevance.

The modern believer covets the likes, tweets and retweets. His heart is satisfied with the clicks and the follows. He prefers the validation of men. Rather than become a spiritual man, he has carved out a new identity, he is now a social man.

The modern-day believer is not spirit-driven or spirit-led. He is content-driven. The Apostolic Fathers, meanwhile, had only one passion: that the knowledge of the Lord God covers the Earth and that the Name of our Lord is Glorified. This was what they lived for. This was what they died for. The gospel mandate shaped their lives. The modern-day believer rather, wants to be the one that goes viral, not his Lord. He wants his content to go viral and not the gospel message.

The modern-day believer is not bowing down to carved and molten gods. He is not going to shrines and deep forests. He wouldn’t countenance such.  He is his god. He has found a way to smuggle an image of himself into the inner chamber of his heart, and he derives pleasure as his name spreads and his works are acknowledged by men. He lives to please himself.

It is rather unfortunate that the modern-day believer is chasing friendliness with the world. He is becoming worldly. He does not seem to realize it, and if he does, he is not bothered. One might join Apostle Paul in asking, Do we now seek to please men? (Gal 1:10)

We must recognize that every time we decide to be like the world, to follow the world system, to conform our lives to the patterns of this world, we concomitantly are saying no to God. It’s the same decision. One implies the other and to the same degree. It is true that we live in this world and have our interactions with the context it provides us but we must also realize that our conversation is not of this world. We are pilgrims therein, we aren’t called to conform and blend. Hear Apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 7:31

Deal as sparingly as possible with the things the world thrusts on you. This world as you see it is on its way out. (MSB)

There is a Christian way of dealing with the world. The mindset is that of a Pilgrim, the focus is on the Kingdom of God, and our approach is influenced by the understanding that we have- no continuing city, the form of this world is passing away and there is nothing in this world that can truly satisfy the longings of our heart in Christ other than Christ himself.

The believer knows this and is satisfied.