Embrace the More Excellent Thing

To my theologically conservative friends,

I beseech you to not let your guard down in such a time as this. “Tis the season of childishness posing as innovation. Immature theology presents you with its offers of fame and success. They are “cause” directed. It never offers you deep and established categories of the historic faith because they are too rooted in Christendom and if there is one enemy of leftism, it’s Christendom. Instead, they offer you shiny objects and “easy speeches.” But as for you, you are to love your neighbor, show hospitality, and suffer well. Don’t abandon your post for those offering you a chance to engage in the real “battle” of our day.

They are asking you to globalize your concerns instead of continuing to do those local things that God has clearly called you to do. They are saying that you should show care for this or that cause, otherwise you are an imbecile worthy of condemnation and to be treated as a denier of “progressiveness,” or good ol’ fashion, “social justice.” But, I say, resist the niceties of leftists agendas in the church and in the world. Of course, this commitment comes with consequences for you, which is why you must count the cost (Lk. 14:28). The end result of such a stand against the gods of this age will be the loss of relationships, even among family members; perhaps the loss of jobs, and possibly the loss of reputation. But I assure you: the reward is infinitely greater than the losses.

Many will guilt us into causes that are so far detached from the umbilical cord of truth, but they will present it as the “cause of the century,” or “the real battle.” “It’s just nice,” they say, to care about this or that movement. C.S. Lewis repudiated such absurdity when he wrote that nice people are difficult to save because God is not nice or safe, but He is good.

This is a particular time in history when theological compromise is knocking at your door and the temptation to serve the greater cultural causes will tempt you. But you are not to forsake your duties to your neighbor in exchange for global causes; this is our time to be even more diligent loving our brother and sister, and serving and caring and committing to those tested and tried Christian duties. Naturally, you will feel the pull to take these causes in the name of making a mark or building your “I care” brand, but don’t be deceived, many of the ideologies of our day come with strings attached. They are often attached to unholy agendas of sexual freedom and the acceptance of lifestyles far from the kingdom of heaven.

Remember that the “who” is just as important as the “what” and “how.” Those who perpetuate concepts of reconciliation, for instance–from whatever tribe–will not call you to simply defend their cause, but they will demand you follow their charity by kneeling before their ideological gods, and none of these gods lead to the cross of the crucified Messiah.

Therefore, keep your guard up! Be courageous among fierce vultures. Don’t feel the compulsion to enter into the first cause that seems noble and do not act as if your cause is to study every conceivable angle of a movement to destroy its argument. Too many have entered and never returned. What you must do is test the spirits and see if they are of faith for sometimes they dress up as angels of light to deceive you into a nice Christianity devoid of godly conviction and before you know it, the cause you are fighting for has no Gospel at all. God forbid!