…because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools… Romans 1:21-23
The Chinese proverb in the title above speaks to the dangers of slipping into worldly ways without realizing it. Christians must remain distinct from the world, but our adversary is excellent at blurring the lines between right and wrong. This occurs not because we do not care about the morality of our deeds, but because we all are products of our cultures to some degree. Often we assume a practice is legitimate because we grew up with it and never thought to ask if it is acceptable for Christian living. As the fish cannot explain what water is because it is wet, we may find ourselves unable to recognize that daily practices in our lives are counter to the gospel of Christ.
The Hebrews writer warned about the “…deceitfulness of sin” and its hardening impact on the heart (Hebrews 3:12). No doubt, this correlates to cultural blindness, and it must serve as a wake up call to examine our every assumption to weed out the errors about which we may have been numbed by our environment. Christianity has always been counter-cultural, and people have always struggled to understand where their cultures have swerved into the moral ditch. This demands several attitudes and actions on our part.
First, we must be aware that we may not be standing on as solid a foundation as we assume. As Paul told the Corinthians, we must be aware of the danger of falling while thinking all is well (1 Corinthians 10:12). This is part of the wider principle of honest self-assessment wherein we do not think more highly of ourselves than we ought (Romans 12:3). The heart of Jesus’ warning about harsh judgment in Matthew 7:1-6 is introspection first. He was not saying to make no moral judgments about the deeds of others. He was saying to pay special attention to our own condition before making those judgments (cf. John 7:24).
Secondly, in addition to recognizing the fact that we all have various weaknesses and shortcomings, we must be willing to exert the effort to discern what those errors are before we can correct them. This is a call to be alert, attentive, and clear minded (Luke 21:36; Romans 13:11-13; 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8; 1 Peter 1:13; 5:8). Paul told Timothy to pay close attention to himself and to the teaching both for his sake and that of his hearers (1 Timothy 4:12-16). This demands diligence to obtain the necessary understanding (2 Timothy 2:15; 3:16-17). We must avoid the trap the Hebrew brethren had fallen into where their maturation was stunted by failure to sharpen their powers to discern good and evil (Hebrews 5:11ff). As Paul told the Thessalonians, we must “Test everything; hold fast to that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
Finally, having discerned where we have blended with our culture rather than with the will of the Lord, we must have hearts that are willing to make the necessary changes. James 3:17 describes the wisdom from above with great clarity. One of the central features of this wisdom is that it is “…willing to yield.” All humanity struggles with surrendering our will to another’s, but it is essential that we do so. As Jesus said in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”
The most critical decision any of us will make is whom we will serve. No matter how difficult it may be for us to yield our will to another, every one of us does so every single day. We can be slaves “…of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness…” (Romans 6:16), but we all will be slaves to one or the other. May we do what we must to avoid the deceitfulness of sin.