UPDATED Today’s AMI Devotional QT, originally posted on January 1, 2019, is provided by Pastor Ryun Chang.
Devotional Thought for This Morning
Matthew 10:16 (ESV)
“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”
1 Peter 3:15b (NIV)
“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect . . .”
Last year (2018), one of my children sent me the biographical-information section of a Harvard application, thinking it would amuse me. It certainly did, for the application states, “We understand that gender identity can be expressed in a variety of ways.” Each applicant is then given several choices of personal pronouns by which to identify one’s gender, including “his,” “hers,” “zim,” “they,” and “theirs.” If language is indeed a representational system, then what these pronouns are made to signify fails to convey the right meaning. And if grammar still counts for something, using third-person singular or plural pronouns to stand for a first-person singular subject is incorrect, no matter how one feels inside.
So what happens when the protocol of addressing a student by his or her preferred gender is not followed—at least in public schools? A Virginia high-schoolteacher was recently fired for refusing to call a transgender student by the student’s preferred pronouns. The principal who dismissed him said, “I can’t think of a worse way to treat a child.” The fired teacher, however, said that his Christian faith prevented him from addressing the student as a male when the student had been identified as female the previous year.
Seeing these seismic sociocultural changes, I wonder what E. V. Hill—the late African-American pastor from Los Angeles who spoke at my college commencement in 1984—would say today. Whatever disturbing changes Hill witnessed 35 years ago prompted him to quote Psalm 11:3 in his speech: “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” In no uncertain terms, the changes back then pale in comparison to what is unfolding today. Make no mistake: what we are witnessing now—redefining marriage and family, extreme tribalism that breaks with e pluribus unum (“out of many, one”), and more—is the deconstruction of the most fundamental building blocks of any society, let alone Western society, established by God (Ps. 24:1).
So then, what do we say to our kids when they think their parents are as unkind as that teacher—more concerned about the repercussions of a drastic cultural shift than about the feelings of transgender individuals? What do we say to coworkers or classmates who believe we are simply intolerant and hateful when we refuse to conform to political correctness? If ever there was a time for believers to heed Jesus’ words—“Be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves”—it is now, in what has already become a post-Christian America in academia, the media, and Hollywood. Truth be told, the sociopolitical views of Christians who are more enamored with social justice than with the justice of God (Rom. 1:17) are shaped more by this trifecta of cultural institutions—which disproportionately influence public discourse—than by the Bible, which they read selectively.
Here, Jesus underscores the importance of being tactful—“Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders” (Col. 4:5a)—while not “distort[ing] the word of God… but setting forth the truth plainly” (2 Cor. 4:2). If our responses err on the side of being culturally tone-deaf or insensitive, we greatly diminish our credibility and relevance when appealing to a secular or post-Christian world with the gospel; indeed, such a world will turn hostile. However, if our responses misrepresent God’s eternal truth—which does not change with time—we end up with a flawed message that does more harm than good, both spiritually and socially, to what is fast becoming a rudderless and anchorless America.
Amid these tectonic cultural shifts, we must think critically so that we are “always… prepared to give [a culturally sensitive and biblically valid] answer” (1 Pet. 3:15) to those who undermine God’s established order. We must try—for the sake of our children and for those around us who are indifferent or hostile to Scripture and a biblical worldview. We need to remove these roadblocks so that they can clearly hear the gospel: “That [they] may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing [they] may have life in his name” (Jn. 20:31). Let us make the rest of this year a year of reaching out to the spiritually lost and culturally confused.
Prayer: Father, perhaps every generation has felt this way, but I believe we are living in the most unhinged moment, when everything You have placed in order is being questioned and discarded. It concerns me and frightens me at the same time. Give me wisdom, knowledge, and boldness to be both culturally sensitive and biblically faithful as a witness in a world that no longer fears You. Amen.
Bible Reading for Today: 2 Timothy 4
Lunch Break Study
1 Peter 3:15-16: “But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”
Questions to Consider
- In ancient Rome, people looking for reasons to malign Christians slandered them as immoral (e.g., incestuous for loving “brothers and sisters,” cannibals for “eating the flesh of Jesus”) and unpatriotic. In light of that, what unflattering things are said about Bible-believing Christians today? What have you personally heard?
- What are we instructed to do in anticipation of being slandered by the world for our Christian faith?
- What does Paul assume may happen when someone who is curious about our faith hears our reasonable responses? What does that imply for us at a personal level?
Notes
- Typical charges include: “homophobic” for dissenting from same-sex marriage; “Islamophobic” for correlating terrorism with certain segments within global Islam; “xenophobic” or even “racist” for not supporting illegal immigration or open borders; “closed-minded” or “unenlightened” for upholding the exclusivity of Christ for salvation, and so on.
- The apostle Paul commands believers to prepare adequate responses in advance, anticipating questions from both earnest seekers and slanderers of the Christian faith. This requires study on our part. We are also instructed to respond with gentleness and respect.
- In verse 17, Paul assumes that some who ask questions will not be satisfied and will continue to slander. In response, we are told to “suffer for Christ”—to endure mistreatment for doing what is right, not for doing something criminal. Jesus likewise said, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you” (Jn. 15:18).
Evening Reflection
A psalmist laments, “Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’” (Ps. 79:10a); and again, “My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, ‘Where is your God?’” (Ps. 42:3).
As you look back on what you heard or read today, do you recall anything that slandered the character of God the Father, Jesus the Son, or Scripture itself? What does your typical response to such things reveal about your own faith? If you are not offended by these slanders (not that you should respond in extreme or violent ways), what does that indicate?
As you reflect, ask the Lord to show you whether you are being wise. Commit yourself to equipping your mind with culturally sensitive and biblically faithful responses so that you may better represent God’s interests in the world.