I am a Christian writer, which means whenever there is a cultural debate that rubs against Christianity, someone asks me to comment on it. But I don’t. I generally stay quiet about issues, not because I don’t care, but rather because I’m practicing something different.
While most people might feel that as Christians our job is to advance God’s causes by winning cultural debates, I’m practicing what it means to be above a debate.
What does this mean? It means I focus on more important matters—like displaying the love, grace, humility, and truth that allows people to forge an authentic relationship with God.
Striving to win cultural debates only inflates my pride and gets in the way of that.
This is an important lesson for our controversial, social media-filled days:
Living like Jesus is not about winning a cultural war. It’s about being above it.
What Happened on Friday was Disappointing
On Friday, the Supreme Court announced that gay marriage is now allowed in every state.
As a Christian, I must confess: what disappointed me wasn’t the Supreme Court decision—it was the Christians.
After the decision was announced, Christians took to social media and shouted their belief in traditional marriage in a brash, unloving fashion. They didn’t listen to what the other side was feeling. Instead, they treated this as if it were a war. They fought back. They were bitter. They exhibited their own pride and ego rather than the humility of Christ.
Though not all Christians reacted this way, many did.
Christians were not above the debate. Their response proved they were very much affected and fazed by culture’s decision. Their response displayed to those on the outside of Christianity that their hope was contingent on what culture did.
If society’s decision on Friday did hinder God, then we would have reason to be angry, to yell at others and fight back as culture would expect us to. But if it changes nothing, then what do we have to worry about?
If our hope truly is higher than the world, we need to stop making a mess of our witness with matters of the world.
Being above a debate means responding to it with the love, humility, and truth that comes with godliness. But so much of what happened on Friday was the result of us being human—placing our hope in what people do instead of what God is doing.
How Jesus Responded to Cultural Questions
I love how Jesus responded to tricky, cultural debates. When people tried pulling Him in to comment on a debate, He always shifted the question to place the priority back on God. He wasn’t about being captured with the distraction of these questions. He was about using the questions to always point to God.
For instance, in John 4, Jesus doesn’t answer the Samaritan woman’s question with a polarizing statement. He simply redirects her concern about a debate to something higher and of more importance.
In another instance when the scribes and chief priests tried to capture Jesus in a matter of dissension in Luke 20, Jesus didn’t answer in a worldly way—by taking sides and completely shaming the view of Caesar. He instead proved He was above the debate by reorienting the people back to God.
A friend recently said that loving others in the way God intends for us to love means seeing past what people want and offering them what they really need. When tricky cultural questions toss us around, people want us to take a side. People want a clear-cut answer on who’s right and who’s wrong. But Jesus didn’t answer the Samaritan woman and the scribes in the way they wanted. He offered them what they really needed—a relationship with God.
That’s what it means to be above a debate—to not get swept in what culture does, but rather be confident in what God is doing, enough to still keep at the mission.
The trick is not responding to these questions in the way the world expects us to.
The Time Christians Made Me Proud This Week
To prove what I mean about being above the ways and matters of the world, let me take us back to something that also happened recently.
Following the tragedy of the Emanuel AME Church shooting in Charleston, SC, hundreds of worshippers returned to their pews on Sunday. It was then that Rev. Norvel Goff said something inspiring:
“Lots of folks expected us to do something strange and break out in a riot. Well, they just don’t know us.”
Did you hear that? The world expected them to riot like people did in Baltimore and Ferguson. But instead, they displayed a higher hope. Their response showed they were not dealing with the world in the way the world deals with itself. Because they stood for something greater, they could respond to such tragedy in a godly way.
When we are truly confident in what God is doing, something glorious happens—we respond to the things of this world in a godly fashion, a way people don’t expect.
So when debates and cultural storms seek to capsize us, our hope in God should really allow us to behave in a way that empowers those around us.
Responding with anger doesn’t empower people. Being cynical about culture doesn’t change anything. Shouting at people certainly doesn’t change things. What does make a difference is responding to culture in a way they don’t expect—with the love that draws close to people who don’t believe what we believe.
It’s time that we, as Christians, live more like Jesus in these times of debate. It’s time we focus on what people need and stop getting swept away in what culture is doing. It’s time we stop reacting so violently to people who don’t believe what we believe, and instead love those as Jesus would love them.
And all of this really means taking Jesus seriously when He says He has overcome the world. Our hope is Him in the only way we can stand above these debates.
What Does This Practically Look Like?
So how should Christians behave toward cultural storms? How can we practically live like Jesus and be above these debates without getting sucked into their distraction? Here are a few ways I suggest:
- Stop posting polarizing statements on social media. Jesus said to love your enemies, not make enemies.
- Listen to the other side. Don’t simply write them off. Truth with grace is a challenge because it means we say, “I hear you, I disagree with you, but I still love you.”
- Practice the humility to keep silent. Don’t let your Christian pride speak unfiltered statements. I’ve never heard of pride solving any debate. Rather, allow humility to enter into the situation. Tell yourself that you don’t always need to say something to do God justice in the world. Sometimes, there is power in being quiet.
- Anchor your hope in God. Sure, it sucks whenever something you want to happen doesn’t happen. But at the end of the day, remember it is God whom you believe in, not the Christianization of culture. Continue on with your days knowing that God is still in control, no matter what happens in our culture. Maybe by remembering this above all else, we won’t be making a mess when the next cultural storm erupts. Maybe by doing this, we’ll be making a difference instead.
In conclusion, Friday doesn’t render God obsolete in our culture. We still have a reason to be hopeful. There’s no reason for us to take to our social media pulpits and bash those who don’t believe in what we believe. The world expects us to take sides and argue our view to the ground. But it’s time for them to see what happens when Christians display the humility and love in their beliefs. That’s how we live as Jesus lived. That’s what it means to be above a debate.
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
If you liked this article, check out:
Stop Making Christian Debate Articles Go Viral
The 8 Habits of People Who Live Out Their Faith Every Day
6 Things to Understand about Culture Before You Try to “Christianize” It