Bridging the Cultural Divide: Prompts to Find Your Voice
Are We Cooked?
The late evangelist, Billy Graham, used an illustration of a frog in a pan of water to demonstrate the effect of what I'll call creep. Drop the frog into hot water, and it'll jump out. But if you place it in tepid water and gradually increase the heat, the frog is cooked! The poor toad doesn't realize what's happening and basks in the comfort of doing nothing - until it's too late.
If you're a Bible-believing, God-fearing Christian, I sure hope we're not already cooked. Have you noticed the temperature going up around you?
I'm talking about our culture's increasing acceptance of what the Bible labels as sin. On our watch. You may recognize it as utter confusion.
In my last article, I talked about the gay lifestyle and the inept response to it by the Christian population at large. If you listened to it, you know I've finally felt the heat of reticence. I want to do something about it. Gay relations is only one issue about which God's people should be voicing their concerns. Whatever the snares of life, new and unwary victims are born daily. We can help light the dark paths they are destined to trod.
Feeling the Heat?
Are you troubled by what you see happening in the world? Gender confusion, gun violence, moral decline, loss of innocence and respect, substandard schools, and on and on. Are you angry, frustrated, or sad? And feeling helpless to do anything about it?
The emotions are understandable, but they need to be expressed constructively. Doing nothing will only increase them.
Clever politicians know this. They've caught the wave, worked us into a frenzy, and hope to ride it to seats of power. But in doing so, they're only exacerbating the great divide. They'll never have the power to save us.
Our thoughts of helplessness, however, are merely ploys of the enemy - that which seeks to steal, kill, and destroy.
We're not helpless. We have a voice. And the more of us that use it, the more forcefully it speaks.
Ineffective Voices
But our voices can't be heard if we're isolated.
Modern conveniences, our infatuation with entertainment, and the infiltration of ineffective or unscrupulous media from any viewpoint on the spectrum have sown apathy or discord in our hearts and pushed us away from one another. As a society, we've abandoned faith and community. It didn't happen overnight. It crept in like water heating under a frog's belly.
The once-solid ground beneath us has given way to jarring earthquakes. We're hunkered down in trenches, exchanging words laced with barbs and shrapnel rather than compassion and understanding. We've succumbed to using vitriolic labels, choosing sides, and listening only to what we agree with instead of considering other viewpoints and learning about the plight of people who differ from us.
Just as isolation deafens our voice, shouting through the megaphone of an angry mob fails too. No one will hear us. Communication is relational. If we've disrespected others, they won't listen to us. Why should they?
But There's Hope
It's time to rebuild. To reconstitute. To resolve. It's time to repair broken bridges and construct new ones. To connect. To communicate once again. To understand one another. To leave the sidelines, listen well, and speak the truth in love.
It's what we're called to do.
Twelve Prompts to Rediscover Your Voice
If you're feeling the urge to bandage the wounds around you, meditating on these questions may help:
- Is there someone you should get to know better?
- Is there a non-threatening activity you could invite them to? A meal in your home or at a local restaurant? A game in the backyard?
- Are you connected with a church? How can you connect better?
- Does your church stand unapologetically for biblical truth on controversial issues?
- Do you participate in a small group that studies God's Word, shares personal experiences, and prays for one another's needs?
- Are you open to associating with people you disagree with on social issues? Do you consume news from a variety of perspectives?
- Is something blocking you? For example, does your Christian witness lack credibility because of unconfessed sin? Do you owe anyone an apology? Are you harboring unforgiveness?
- What activity could you sacrifice to make time for what matters more?
- If you have a relative, friend, or neighbor mired in a habitual sin or struggling with life, how can you improve rapport with them to share what God's Word says about their issue?
- Have you explained that Jesus died for their sins to set them free?
- What or whom is God prompting you to pray for?
- What one thing will you take action on?
Now meditate on these passages:
“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” —John 8:32 ESV
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” —Hebrews 10:24–25 ESV
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” —Ephesians 4:15–16 ESV
“These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace; do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord.” —Zechariah 8:16–17 ESV
“Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.” —Matthew 7:3–5 ESV
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” —2 Corinthians 5:17–19 ESV
For more study, read Ephesians 4 in its entirety.
Copyright © 2024 Tim Bishop
