It’s just a theory, but it seems that culture moves so quickly that we struggle to grasp it’s true impact on us. Before we can even realize its effect, a myriad of other changes have taken place to further the influence we experience.
For believers, this is a crucial topic of conversation. For unbelievers, this is simply the normal that has evolved and continues to evolve. The main avenue of influence that seems to be the most prominent is TV.
Last Spring, I took to watching a few new shows and quickly came to the realization that TV has gotten so much looser over time. Whether it is language, sexual content, or even the suggestion of drug use, it has become increasingly apparent on the screen. The TV isn’t the only place, though. Rolling through Instagram the other day, I saw this cartoon-like video that was full on pornographic. Call me whatever you want, but that just seems incredibly unnecessary. Our world has changed so much, that those slight suggestive posts, comments, shows, whatever the content, have just become normal.
Whether we're aware of this theory or not, the truth of the matter is that our submission to it will only cause us to be more and more comfortable as it continues to evolve. Such comfort will only continue to transform our perspective, and for believers, it will transform that perspective for the worst.
I have this memory of my parents discussing something that happened in the world (a tragedy of some sort) and my mom looking over at me to say “If only I could protect you from the world”. This has stuck with me, and any time I encounter a tragedy, or sin in my own life, I think about how I must have been so innocent at the time. I had no real grasp of the world and it’s cruelties. Now I've become so comfortable that it is hard to know where to draw the line.
The other extreme to this, of-course, is that as believers; we cannot hide from the world. We have a responsibility to speak the truth, to love everyone, and to preach the gospel. We can’t hide away in order to avoid sadness and reality. While I may not always appropriately hide from the shows that I give into, I will freely admit that I have days where watching the news is just too much for me. That is not okay. It’s important as a citizen in this nation and further as a believer in Christ that I'm aware of what's going on in the world. We can’t afford to hide from the world. The Gospel is too important.
The fine line is this, no matter what changes take place in the world, or how loose it may be, with the content that is around us, we cannot afford to hide. We have to submit to going into the world and being the Church. As a believer, I have to work hard to know my limits. If something is too much for me, and takes a toll on me, I have to make a deliberate decision to remove it from my sight.
But that doesn't give me the freedom to hide from the world’s troubles. It does not give me the freedom to ignore the problems in the world. Balance what you know hinders you, and be encouraged when the world feels overwhelming. The Lord is patient through it all.
There was an old Avalon song that spoke so well to this to say:
Come take the Light to darker parts
Share His truth with hardened hearts
We are not like the world but we can love it
Come bring the Hope to the hopeless men
Until the lost are found in Him
He came to save the world
So let us be in it, not of it
