There is a tangibleness to it all. The spiritual darkness in our culture is easily seen. The brokeness that comes from living in darkness is all around us. Followers of Christ know the reason that all of this darkness exists: all of us are lost in our natural state, dead in our sins, and collectively our culture has been shaking its fist at God. God is (as we see in Romans 1) 'handing us over' to our desires. This is one of the ways God judges evil. When humanity says 'no, MY will be done,' and does not turn to God, in time, God will say 'fine, your will be done.' 

This is what we are seeing in our culture. We see it with the epidemic of loneliness as people are isolated and hurting. We see it with the sheer hatred and anger that is on display in our culture. We see it in our culture's complete rejection of God's design for family, human sexuality and gender. We see it with the increase in lawlessness, enabled by a judicial system that turns a blind eye to crimes and violence. We see it with cities around the country giving drugs to homeless people. We see it in school board meetings where parents are trying to protect their children from inappropriate material and deceitful philosophies that nurture victimhood and hatred. 

I could go on. We see it everywhere. The question is, 'what are Christians to do?' Let me humbly suggest a few things we cannot do and a few things we must do.

First, we cannot isolate ourselves. Jesus said of His disciples (that is you and me if we are born again) that we are 'salt and light.' Our job is to preserve and flavor and illuminate the culture. Christ has commissioned us as witnesses. We cannot isolate ourselves.

Second, we cannot live in fear or anger. God does not give us a spirit of fear and man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. There is a righteous form of anger. The focus of righteous anger is on the injustice and damage and pain that evil brings. It is not a self-righteous anger.  To borrow from a song in the late 80's, Christians cannot 'kick the darkness until it bleeds daylight.' 

Third, we must remember that people are not our enemy. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Ultimately this is a spiritual battle. What we are seeing in our culture and in the lives of people are manifestations of what is happening in the unseen realm. When we forget that people are not our enemy, we forget some very important things Jesus commanded: 'love your neighbor as yourself,' and 'love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.' 

Fourth, we must not despair. Some professing Christians look at all of this darkness and think 'it's over...this is it for America.' Perhaps it is. That is not the point. The point is we must have a gospel optimism and we must be obedient to our Lord and Savior. We cannot despair and think that trying to engage people will just fail. The fields are actually ripe for harvest. People are searching for answers and hope! Do not despair. Instead, engage.

So, what should we do? Let me suggest a few things:

1) We must be rooted in the Word of God. We must spend time daily with the Lord in His Word so that our minds are renewed, our steps and hearts are ordered and so we keep Christ at the forefront of all we think, say and do. We gather with others to study Scripture. We worship together to hear the Word preached.  

2) We pray. Only the Lord can change hearts. Only the Lord regenerates people. Jesus alone, saves. We must humble ourselves before the Lord in prayer and pray for mercy for this nation, that He might awaken us once more, that He would revive and reform His church, and that He would save the lost (and we pray specifically for the lost in our spheres of influence). We pray for the required boldness needed to be His witness. 

3) We engage. Every Christian should know how to share the gospel, share their testimony, and all of us must be intentional about engaging others, developing relationships and serving others for the sake of the gospel. When we do this, we will run into messy people, broken people, people ensnared in all sorts of things. When we do this, the Lord will use us as instruments in His Hands for His purposes. When we do this, we will see broken people healed, people ensnared in any number of sins set free, we will see the lost saved and we will see God glorified. We will see the light dispel the darkness. Will this take time? Absolutely. For too long the American church either retreated from the culture or preached at the culture. Taking the Truth into the culture and speaking the Truth in love and doing so with perseverance was tragically absent for the most part. 

4) Churches must learn to see their communities as missionaries. During the 'church growth' era, which is largely over, thankfully, formulas were given to 'grow' churches (attract people), and there was little in the way of depth (people cannot be offended) and little in the way of discipleship. The idea was 'build it and they will come.' That is not found in Scripture. We are the sent ones. We must know our communities, the people in our communities and we must pray, love, engage, share the Truth and persevere. 

This is a starting point. We live in interesting times. That said, God is Sovereign over all things, including this nation and culture and over you and me and we can rest in His Sovereignty and be about His business. He is in charge, not the darkness. 

Shine brightly, brothers and sisters, and encourage one another to stand firm!

For the King and His Kingdom,

Pastor