I try not to be in the habit of alienating people. When I do that, I am operating counter-productively to my purpose which is, in part, to be winsome and attractive to the world for the sake of Christ. So invariably, when we speak out against something, it tends to offend the folks who support the thing we are speaking out against, and offense quickly shuts down a willingness to hear.

But still, there are shifts in our society that are just troubling to me. There is a social minority in our culture that is pushing an agenda forward that is so destructive it is hard to ignore and play nice all the time. I want to love the person and stand against the practice, but keeping the two separate is growing ever more difficult. (Sometimes I want to just shake them while verbally interrogating their sanity. It would serve to make me look nuts, but it might make me feel better.) We have come to the point where those who speak out in opposition are seen as backward, non-progressive, closed minded, and bigoted… to the point that the majority has been bullied into submissive silence.

But the thing is, it is destroying our society. Piece by piece, family by family. Over the last 30 years or so its progress has been deliberate, calculated, patient, deceptive and unfortunately… successful. It is dividing parent from child, and husband from wife. Sound societies have always been built on sound family units. Broken families are one of the first signs of a failing and broken society.

When every person decides to do what is right in their own mind, look out. When there is no consideration for the guardrails for living we find in scripture, expect moral decay and unholy practices.

So what is a winsome believer supposed to do? I am having a hard time pretending the darkness I sense pressing in all around me is not there. Am I supposed to dig out my soapbox and start hurling criticisms with vengeance at those who insist on traveling this destructive path and dragging the rest of us along with them? Do I make “Anti Them” signs, and show up in places where their influence is the strongest and shout my displeasure?

I don’t think so. But neither do I think I am to go quietly into the dark night. No, what I am supposed to do is be a light in the darkness. The only thing that can dispel darkness is light. As believers in Christ, we are the light of the world. As followers of Jesus, we are the only hope this dying world has.

So I will not sling mud at the people who march this agenda forward. But I will not be made to keep quiet about the truth. At least for now, America is still the land of the free and I am still free to speak and write truth. Our society has made a mockery of the family and of marriage, so I will promote them and their benefits. Society has decided that God’s word is irrelevant, so I will speak of its pertinence and its power. The world wants to paint God as harsh, distant and uninvolved, so I will tell of His boundless love and care for us, and how more than anything, He desires to be in relationship with us… no matter who we are or what we have done.

Christians should not be rude or dishonoring of others. We are to speak the truth in love so that its life changing power can be experienced in the lives of those who need it so much. The darkness is here and it is growing. If you don’t see it, it’s because you choose that. Jesus said those with ears let them hear. He encouraged us to have eyes to see. (FYI- Just because you have ears doesn’t mean you hear. Just because you have eyes…)

Recorded in Matthew 13 Christ said, “Though hearing they do not hear, though seeing they do not see.” And then he refers to Isaiah the prophet who said,

“You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”

So there’s the answer. It is an act of your will to align yourself with the things of God. Only then can you see and hear in truth. I mean, the alternative is to be swallowed up, deaf and blind, with the rest into the darkness. I don’t so much recommend that.