Filtering the Cultural Dialogue

With the mid-term elections in full swing and emotions running high, it is not too late to allow God to transform the sound of our voice and the impact of our lives to align with the greater purposes of God’s Kingdom. 

We all need a filter through which to process what is taking place. Each of us has Scripture, insight from the Spirit and the availability of wise counsel. These resources can mold our voice and direct our actions for the good if we are willing to engage the balance and wisdom they provide. Through these filters, we can sift the voices and images we are being asked to believe to see if they contain the heart and message of God. It is our individual responsibility to sift religious leaders, newscasters, cultural pundits, and even our friends to determine the quality and integrity of their message. If the input we are receiving is not able to pass through these filters we have not yet heard the voice of God.

Voices once prophetic are now announcing conspiracy theories, intrigue-laced political maneuvering, and solutions available to the basic inquiry of an unredeemed mind. These things sell and capture an audience, but they do little to advance God’s Kingdom. In this time of critical national importance, we need Heaven to speak a depth of wisdom not found when our voice sounds like the fearful and frustrated culture. None of this is new. It has been repeated in history and sadly plays well in the Church and the wider culture when unresolved frustration is allowed to lead the charge.

Here is what Paul wrote to Titus of his responsibility as a leader in the Church. It seems as if Paul’s instruction was crafted for this moment in time:

“Remind the believers to submit to the government and its officers. They should be obedient, always ready to do what is good. They must not slander anyone and must avoid quarreling. Instead, they should be gentle and show true humility to everyone”(Titus 3:1-2).

To some, this approach will appear naïve and simplistic. It will ring of a narrow intellectual bandwidth or worse, a weakness of character. It does not sound hot-button enough to enter the bloodthirsty ring of our pugilistic cultural debate and win the fight. To those who fault the instructions of Paul, facts, gotchas and putdowns are what will carry the day. These shallow and Spirit-less solutions will end up replacing a message of truth spoken in love and eventually rob the Church of its prophetic voice in each sphere of cultural influence. 

If we fail to filter the sound and content of our voice in response to the constant barrage of emotional stimuli we are receiving, we will miss the downloads of Heaven sent to reveal God's preferred future. These downloads are only discovered if our alignment is with the heart of God, not the informational waste found floating in the cesspool of anger and dishonor that is filling some of the conversations and opinions currently being offered as the way forward.