CULTURE CRISIS

“And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.” ~ Genesis 19:16

REFERENCE: 

Genesis 19:12-20, 26 & 30-36

Culture, in this context, is the attitudes and behavior characteristic of a particular social group; e.g., a culture of carelessness, a culture of hard work or of hospitality. The culture in which we live affects us more than we think. Often unconsciously, we soon dress, talk, behave and ultimately become like it. In Titus 1:12, Paul quoted a Greek philosopher, Epimenides, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” That means that these attributes characterize the citizens of Crete. Therefore, if a man lives there, after a while, he is likely to imbibe the culture.

You must be mindful of the culture you live in and be careful to keep yourself from letting it seep into your mind. Lot got caught in the immoral culture of Sodom and Gomorrah. Although he was a righteous man, he lived there and was unconsciously influenced by their culture. When the angels told his family to leave, the culture held them back; his sons-in-law refused to leave, and in fact, his family was reluctant to leave also. The angels had to take them by the hand and yanked them out, but even at that, Lot begged them not to let him be removed far from Sodom. They were told not to look back at the destruction of the land, but Lot’s wife disobeyed and became a pillar of salt. The worst thing is that the story ends with Lot’s daughters getting him drunk, committing incest with him and having sons by him. What a tragic end to a righteous man’s life.

As believers, we may be in the world, but we are not of this world. Paul said in Romans 12:1-2, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God re-mold your minds from within.” (JB Philips version). Our world today has a culture of immorality, vulgarity, rebellion against authority and selfishness. As believers, if we don’t take action to protect our spirit from this culture, we will be infected by it and we may still think we are righteous but actually, we have been polluted. In Isaiah 1-5, Isaiah, feeling righteous, preached and rebuked the people of Judah for their wickedness and sin. However, he encountered God’s holiness in chapter six, and saw how the toxicity of the culture he lived in had affected him. He said, “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” The culture of perversion and vulgarity around him had taken a hold of his lips, language and life.

Have you taken time to study the culture you live in? How much of its practices is pleasing to God and how much of it is antichrist? As you look at yourself, your marriage, children, your work ethics, business practice, and behavior in school (especially during examinations), how much of that is a reflection of the culture you live in? What informs your beliefs about money, marriage, relationships, business, and entertainment? Are you caught in the culture crisis? Are you living out your Christian conviction or are you dealing with compromise and spiritual apathy? Can you ‘walk away’ from your culture and follow God to a place of holiness of life and obedience to God?

Tomorrow, we will look at ways to live for God in an anti-Christ culture.

PHOTO QUOTE:

ADDITIONAL TEXTS: 

Isaiah 6:1-7 & John 17:14-15

PRAYER:

+ O Lord, I pray for discernment to identify the antichrist culture around me, in order to live free of it, and to live unto God.

+ I free my mind and my heart from all negative influences of a corrupt culture. I pray for sanctification and holiness unto God.