When Battling the Culture

Christians are in a constant battle with the culture because Christianity is opposed to the culture. A better way of saying it would be that the culture, or world, is opposed to Christ…and thus, Christianity. Many Christians seem to be particularly gifted or motivated toward ending or at least fighting certain evils we face living in a world cursed by sin. I do not question the righteous motivation in someone’s heart who believes that we ought to affect the world around us for good. Even if I disagree with the feasibility of their desired outcome, I commend a brother or sister who desires to fight injustice and help those who have been truly victimized by evildoers.

With those commendations in mind, here are a few warnings I offer in Christian charity to those who feel called to be on these important battlefronts. I have noticed common symptoms that a Christian who is singularly focused on a particular evil in the world sometimes exhibits. I am speaking of things where there isn’t a clear call in scripture for every Christian to enter this battle (unlike evangelism which is a clear command to all). These are pitfalls or behaviors one should be careful to avoid in order to remain faithful and effective.

1. The Single Focused Christian often sees the problem they are concerned with EVERYWHERE without discernment or investigation.
2. Often they are willing to partner with those he or she ought not to fight the injustice. If your issue is a Christian/spiritual problem then partnering with those who do not believe the same gospel is off-limits.
3. They often assume those who don’t fight the same fight “just don’t care” or “are corrupted.”
4. They will say nice gospelly stuff once in a while to keep evangelicals happy, but not often enough to show that he or she truly thinks it is of paramount importance, particularly over and above his or her particular issue. You will hear the gospel once in a while from them but then see their tactics seem to deny that they see the gospel as primary.
5. They may even be willing to accuse the brethren and “attack the church” in the process.

Maybe God has built some folks to be singularly focused for His good. But often it seems to be implemented poorly. We would all do well to be patient with one another as we all are part of one Body with many different functions. And we need to also be careful that we don’t ignore these precious souls who are trying to bring attention to issues that are truly important to our Lord.