Throughout history, Christianity has faced countless challenges from the waves of shifting culture. The Bible has retained it’s core message despite it being communicated a thousand different ways. The faith which we profess has risen to every occasion, from the reformation to the 1960′s sexual revolution. But it has not done so all by itself. Indeed the sovereign Spirit of God has a crucial role to play in the preservation of the church. But it required a human component as well. Christianity has overcome the cultural distortions of truth through the ages not on the Spirit of God alone, but by critical examination by a mind that is conditioned and trained by the spiritual disciplines of the Word of God and prayer.
As young adults, the need for a sharp mind is enormous. The challenges faced in our culture are more sharply contrasted with the truth of God than they ever have been. For example, sexually suggestive material has seeped into every facet of our media. In generations past it was more subtle or discreet. It was tucked away in a dark building on the wrong side of town, or in a back room of the magazine store. Now it is everywhere. The media industry pipes it into every facet of our entertainment. We see it in our movies and TV shows. It’s marketed to us in the clothes we buy. Our culture really does seem to buy into the old adage that ‘sex sells.’ I even heard one sociologist quoted as saying “pornography is the wallpaper of our generation.”
This is just one of many examples of the cultural crises that we face in our society today. When in generations past young people had to wade around in the waters of secular culture, we are completely submerged. There are countless battlefields calling for a few good men; marriage, drugs and alcohol abuse, abortion, etc. The numbers are in on all of these topics, and they are all shocking. But what I find even more shocking is the lack of ability of our generation to combat against it. We know these things are wrong, and that they need to stop. But we don’t know how to stop it. And what is as ironic as it is dangerous is that it is the culture itself that has hypnotized us into this helpless stupor. In his book Ordering Your Private World, Gordon MacDonald says:
“The unthinking christian does not realize it, but he is dangerously absorbed into the culture about him. Because his mind is untrained and unfilled, it lacks the ability to produce the hard questions with which the world needs to be challenged.” (pp. 114)
The need for clear Christian thinking is evident. Our work is cut out for us. But where do we start? Many young people have resolved themselves to prayer and fasting for change (there have even been entire movements birthed out of this approach). This is a good place to begin, at the feet of the Lord seeking His will. We ought to start there, but we cannot finish there. We must train and equip our minds to know God’s word and to apply it in our lives. We need to study the Bible and let it change the way we think.
Romans 12:2 instructs us to not be conformed to the pattern of the world. And how do we do that? By being transformed by the renewing of our minds. We need to know what the Bible says about the issues we face. But more than that, we need to know how to apply it and make it culturally relevant. This is a bit more of a process. Reading solid Christian literature and attending a local church that preaches the solid, foundational word of God are some other places to start. From there we need the wisdom to take the knowledge of God’s word and apply it effectively and relevantly to our cultural issues. It is when we combine these efforts with the Spirit of God that I mentioned earlier that we will begin to see some real change in our lives and the lives of the lost around us.
It cannot be understated; we are the next generation. It is our job to take the gospel to the world and to pass it on to the next generation. Ronald Reagan once said: “freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” What if the same truth could be said of the gospel? I believe that we need to train an equip ourselves with this sense of urgency. It was that deep sense of responsibility that caused the church to rise up and defy culture throughout history. This is our hour. And with the Spirit of God and minds equipped and trained by His word, we can overcome.
