Christian-culture Cocktail

It's interesting how humans universally define their worth based on tasks accomplished, financial status, material possessions, physical appearance and ability, and by their human relationships instead of on the basis of being created in the image of a loving God who desires that we not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds in order to worship Him and serve Him as living sacrifices. We've been invited by the Most High to spend eternity with Him, and He's provided redemption from our sin through the death of His son on the cross...that's giving us a position of great worth! But we stubbornly believe that we have to earn His attention by our works and performance which ultimately leads us to believe that we deserve His attention and favor, which then leads us to believe that we're inherently good. Therefore if God places us in a position of strength and power, we can be the saviors of the world, rescuing the needy and remaking them in our image. Our culture has been stirred in to our thinking....like a Christian-culture cocktail!

It's odd... the way we deceive ourselves into thinking that our pursuits are what God really wants for us; we believe He'll provide what we want (because what we want is all good) and that's our idea of the abundant life. For the average Christian in America, it takes on similar forms of this...our happy healthy kids around us, a spacious comfortable clean place to live, preferably a private school education, an acceptable job which provides enough money to pay for anything we need, even some wants and a little extra for giving away, a church which wows us by its great teaching, challenges us but is light on guilt and demands little of our actual time and involvement, allowing us time for all our kids' sports and music events... throw in some good friends, a couple of vacations each year or a mission trip so we're globally-minded, and we're good.

As I read and hear the news in less fortunate parts of the world, the Christian life experience as I know it slams smack into the face of the one another person is experiencing, and the two are not compatible. My culture has had that much of an effect on me that I honestly have bought into the thinking that the American way is the Christian way and God will absolutely honor our wishes and bless our endeavors just because we ask Him to ....because He's God and He can...and we're right to believe in freedom and human rights and liberties, so God will honor those values. Yes, He can, but He doesn't have to and may not want to and doesn't owe us anything...and what about the people on the other side with no rights who are also praying to Him for provision, mercy, healing, food, jobs, and a humanitarian government. Are they less deserving? Are we even deserving at all? Entitlement creeps into my thinking almost imperceptively. Yes,I realize that if I picked any third-world country and instantly made it a developed first-world country with wealth and freedom and opportunity for all, then those people would also be spoiled and have an entitled mindset...it's not that Americans or Westerners are inherently this way...all people have the same tendency for self-absorption and gratification based on their living conditions and life circumstances, and if their understanding of God is that He's the great provider of life as they like it, then they'll be believers! Of course that's true, but I happen to be the one experiencing the good life at the moment.

So why the confusion and discontentment? I'm reminded that I need to see myself as God sees me and go to the Bible as my source to find my worth, to recognize my sinful state and need for the only solution to my sin, my savior Jesus Christ, and discover what the abundant life actually is...not what my culture has redefined it to be... which has always been skewed towards self-sufficiency... individualism and independence (that's the American way)... being so careful to separate church and state that by doing so, we've come up with a new recipe for Christianity by mixing culture into it. The result is that we've distanced ourselves from God just enough so that what He thinks and what He defines as essential truth has become blurred and undiscernible. It's like we've become inoculated against the real thing, so we're not experiencing authentic Christian life. No wonder we're discontent and disillusioned! Oops, I'm mixing my metaphors...let's just say that too many cocktails can blur your thinking and create a false sense of reality...is that better? Sorry...

I am realizing the inconsistencies in my mind as I've had discussions with Emily during her college years and I read scripture, and lately as I follow the blogs of the World Racers this year and watch their experiences with other cultures, other races and people groups. As they have this opportunity to remove themselves from their own cultural influences, I wonder if they are struggling with these same internal battles, and how objectively can they evaluate the onslaught of other ideologies and influences which will inevitably present themselves. A lot of them are on the WR because of this...they have been taught and challenged in their Bible and Anthropology and Sociology classes, and they're disturbed by the idea of one culture defining and imposing its will on all cultures, that the old-school way of doing mission work is no longer acceptable in their minds...now they hope to see the world with new eyes and deliver their message of Christ's love with a more humble and servant-hearted approach. I admire this generation's fervor and global perspective...they really do have a better understanding of biblical values and why all people are worth loving and saving...and for their young unscrambled minds, it's not that big of a task to filter and expunge all the cultural impurities that have muddied the waters, but for my old brain, it seems too daunting. Where do we start? How do we know what's culture and what's actual Christian truth? They seem wiser in some ways, and hopefully will be more successful than my generation at what's really essential...keeping their focus on God and His Word which is pure, unchanging, timeless, and relevant to all people in all cultures and also on His ultimate goal which is that one day, all will bow and worship Him and know the truth.

Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and
deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and
the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.