I am not the first nor will I be the last to realize that the culture that we live in is not only accepting of death, but is utterly and totally in love with it. From abortion, to “the right to die”, to the destruction of the family, our culture (and many professing “Christians” if we are honest with ourselves) is spiraling to destruction. The worst part about it is that the vast majority of people are completely blind to this reality. Western society is so in love with autonomy and the self that the laws given to us by God are now seen as not only passé but are considered reprehensible by the culture as a whole. Many of us now find ourselves surrounded by people who have no belief in the sanctity of life or of marriage. In a sense, we are the few sane people in the middle of a massive insane asylum where the more we speak for the rights of the unborn and the more we speak for sexual purity, the more we are seen as crazy. What I want to do in this article is to give you five reassurances to help you through what is ultimately going to be a difficult and uncertain future. We must prepare for a future where sanity will be replaced with insanity. Where a culture that once loved life and the gifts of God is replaced with a culture that is obsessed with death and the wages of the devil.
1) God is sovereign over all things – It is easy to slide into depression and believe that everything is completely and totally out of control. We believe that somehow a person or a politician is the only way to fix the problems that our country is facing and when those people fail us we start to believe that there is no hope. As believers, we must understand that God is sovereign over all things and that He knows what is going on. Nothing that is happening is surprising to God nor are things spiraling out of His control. In God’s wisdom He is allowing for this to happen and we must have faith that this is all part of His grand plan. This doesn’t mean that we should sit idly by and not resist injustice against the innocent, but it means that we should have faith that God will take care of business.
Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. – Psalms 115:3
2) Focus on reflecting the light of Christ – Many of the people who have bought into the lies that this culture has force fed them will eventually realize the truth. They will never find purpose or meaning in anything outside of Jesus Christ and eventually many will come looking for something different. What would be amazing is if these lost people come looking and find us living in such a radically different way as the culture as to be a beacon of light in the darkness. God has made us in a way that we naturally come looking for Him. Let’s be there when the lost come looking for something that is tangible. Let us be there with love and speaking the truth of what Christ did for us.
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. – Matthew 5:14
3) Have children (or adopt them) that love the Lord. Lot’s of them – I know that this seems to be one of those silly statements, but raising children that love the Lord is the best way to counter a worldview that sees children as a burden. The truth of the matter is that those who worship death and who do not value children have an unsustainable lifestyle. Whether they are in a homosexual “marriage” or they are choosing not to have children, they are not replacing themselves. Believers on the other hand can create a new generation of Christian warriors that understand the amazing gift of the true gospel and the value of the life God has given to us. We might not be able to see it in this life, but our grandchildren might usher in the most amazing revival the world has seen since Paul left Antioch.
4) Don’t get mad, get sad – The first impulse that I personally have in regards to people who are incapable of seeing the truth regarding the horrors of the culture of death is to get angry. It feels as if it should be so clear, but we must all realize that unbelievers are completely blind to the light of the truth. Being angry towards an unbeliever for their lack of compassion or their lack of common sense in regards to the sanctity of life is pointless. A nonbeliever is incapable of understanding this truth because their worldview is incompatible with holding anything sacred. That is actually the definition of atheism. It is disbelief that anything is sacred. This shouldn’t make you angry, but should make you sad. Try to put yourself in their shoes and think about how unbelievably depressing this worldview is. At the end of their life, the entirety of their existence amounts to absolutely nothing. This worldview allows for any atrocity and any lifestyle because at the end of the day, existence is pointless and meaningless anyways. We, as believers know that this isn’t true, but that should be even more heartbreaking when considering the fate of the nonbeliever and their soul.
5) Hold fast to the truth and at any cost – The day is fast approaching when holding fast to an orthodox understanding of scripture will no longer just be looked down upon by the wider world, but will be attacked. We are already being mocked and despised, but the day is coming when anti-Christian words will turn to action. Nominal Christians are already abandoning the title of Christian at record pace and admitting to themselves that they only said they were because they were expected to. The wheat is being separated from the chaff and the difference between real Christianity and the culture is growing. Those few of us who hold fast to the sanctity of life and of the image bearers of God must decide if we will hold true to God or to mammon. Every one of us who is a chosen child of God must decide if we are willing to suffer or even die for the gospel. We are called to do nothing less than that.
if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; – 2 Timothy 2:12
“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. – Matthew 5:11
I know that it oftentimes feels as if you are in a room filled with people and though you are screaming at the top of your lungs that no one is listening. The value of life has ceased to matter to the wider world and a culture of death has replaced it. We as believers must realize that this is the new normal, but we must also realize that we can’t capitulate to it. We must survive and fight our own battles in our own neighborhoods and our own cities. We have a duty to our children and to the kingdom of God to resist this evil age, but we must also understand that God has not left us and that Jesus still lives. We must all understand that though this world is broken, that one day soon, God will make it new just like He made us new.
