Our world has gone mad and it is far too easy to fall in line with it by giving it back what its peddling. “You cancel me, and I’ll show you, I’ll cancel you right back!” or “Because you are trying to force me to ascribe to your godless worldview, I will just not listen to you any longer!” Cancel culture is real and it is in all of our faces. And not only does it seek to silence its opposition…its ultimate goal is to destroy dissenters.
Just turn on the news and you will be pummeled by a full list of atrocities. Here are just a few examples: women celebrating their abortions as if it were an opportunity for a victory dance. “That stupid clump of cells didn’t ruin my life plans!” Others loudly proclaimed and flaunted their desire to murder our former president and blow up the White House as if it would be doing us all a favor. Or canceling people for their misuse of chosen pronouns. And still others call patriots terrorist because they don’t align with their world view. It is all shocking but the voices are getting louder and louder and this list is growing.
“If the world hates you, remember that it hated Me first.
John 15:18
What Do I Do About Cancel Culture?
I have asked the Lord, “So what do I do about this?” “Do I literally abandon social media, refuse to listen to the news, and block all entertainment from my life?” “Do I just go dark?!” I don’t believe an all-out ban on the world is my answer. While I am not supposed to be a part of this godless world, yet by design I am to live in it. “So God, how do You want to handle cancel culture in my life?”
My answer…PRAY rather than hate! These lost souls celebrating and glorifying their sin need the Light of Christ. None of us are exempt from this need, and we who have been given much, have much required of us. We don’t get to just cancel culture because of their darkness, no matter how much we are tempted. And of course the world is dark and godless, in fact they are upholding their end of the bargain. But my job is to be Light in the darkness.
Tempted by CANCELing
How this now seems to be playing out is that when I hear about things that make me furious, I pray for the very perpetrators of evil. I am using these expressions of godlessness like an alarm bell to alert me to pray for them to have LIGHT. The Light of Christ is the only answer, without it we all live in darkness. So when I hear of a politician pushing legislation that is intended to destroy our world, I pray. I’m not canceling in retaliation, rather I am pleading for Christ’s Light to shine in the darkness. I am asking for the Spirit of God to bring His bright Light of salvation to these lost souls headed for hell.
Believe me I have been super tempted to pull a “Sons of Thunder” and call down fire from heaven to destroy these God haters. Tell me if that hasn’t been your temptation too. For instance, “God, they are destroying our country…take them out and NOW!!!” And while venting my anger might be cathartic in the moment, this course of action is probably more Satan’s plan than God’s. Our raging against the opposition just further separates us all even more, which seems to be the scheme behind it all. Our world is polarized. But more it separates the lost from their Solution…Christ’s Light in us.
Unless the Light of Jesus shines in a life, that life is lost. Even the most successful and polished of us without Christ, die in darkness. And how do I know if the very expression of evil is not an cry for Light. Perhaps not from those in evil, but their Savor with Light.
Light in the Dark
“Just remember, when the unbelieving world hates you, they first hated me. If you were to give your allegiance to the world, they would love and welcome you as one of their own. But because you won’t align yourself with the values of this world, they will hate you. I have chosen you and taken you out of the world to be mine. So remember what I taught you, that a servant isn’t superior to his master. And since they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. And if they obey my teachings, they will also obey yours. They will treat you this way because you are mine, and they don’t know the One who sent me.
“If I had not come and revealed myself to the unbelieving world, they would not feel the guilt of their sin, but now their sin is left uncovered. If anyone hates me, they hate my Father also. If I had not performed miracles in their presence like no one else has done, they would not feel the guilt of their sins. But now, they have seen and hated both me and my Father. And all of this has happened to fulfill what is written in their Scriptures: They hated me for no reason.
John 15:18-25 TPT
Thankful for the Rock that won’t be shaken. What peace there is in that Kingdom!
I think it’s important for us to remember that cancel culture is not really an entity, but an angry and irrational mob composed of many individuals. When we look at the mob, we don’t see the pain and hurt of the individual, a hurt driving them to join that mob. My response is to probe that pain, sharing in their burden in the same way my Lord did for me when I was an irrational and angry young man. The wounds they expose is where I apply the salve of prayer.
Yes and amen!
Thank you John for seeking God’s will in our current political culture. As I was reading this post the scripture you used had already come to my mind, “they hated ME first.”
I stand on the Lord’s side, and pray as you that the LIGHT of CHRIST will awaken in these unbelievers their desperate need for the saving light of God’s Lamb.