Cross Cultural – adj. Comparing or dealing with two or more different cultures.
Genesis 1:31a
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good…
At the garden, we fell from God’s grace, separated from him by sin; yet, at the cross, Jesus redeemed us, giving us an option of choosing life in Him, putting us back in communion with God through Him, our saviour. He defeated the curse of sin & death, replacing us to our pre fall-of-man relationship with the Creator.
The culture of the world and culture of the Kingdom are very interesting. Sometimes, they are at such polar opposites that it is easy to distinguish where we as Christians stand. Other times, these two cultures are so closely aligned that either position could be considered “christian.”
Whether recognized or not, Jesus is Lord over every culture. In Genesis 1 there is a Kingdom mandate: Take dominion of all creation for the glory of God. We’ve been redeemed to a place where we are equipped and authorized to fulfill this mandate!
It’s time to move into becoming proactive, and away from being reactive. It’s time to spend less time nitpicking, less time fighting the little battles ourselves, and letting God fight our battles.
My daughter, Topanga (she’s 3), when frustrated with her sister, Tehillah (she’s 2), asks her beautiful mom, “Mom, can you fight my battles?” and sometimes, “Mom, can you fight my battles…and win?” Topanga noticed that handling these conflicts herself usually results in both girls in tears and heading to their room for a nap, however when she rises above the conflict, turns to her higher power, her mom, she usually gets the outcome she’s looking for.
1 Corinthians 4:20 says, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.” In Romans 14, Paul says that “the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” In John 17, Jesus prayed over his disciples (us) and did not ask that God take us out of the world, but protect us from the Evil One.
Perhaps we need to look at this whole thing differently. A word picture comes to mind from the movie Armageddon:
Imagine a firecracker in the palm of your hand. You set it off, what happens? You burn your hand, right? You close your fist around the same firecracker, and set it off. Your wife’s gonna be opening your ketchup bottles the rest of your life.
Don’t attempt to influence a culture you refuse to be a part of! All we do is burn bridges and annoy people. Let’s get inside our culture and make a real difference!
We need to realize that we need less movie/music boycotts, less poorly made art with a thinly-guised Christian agenda, and more talented, artistic believers infiltrating the industry, influencing culture from the inside! Sure, we may be in the minority, but once we’re in…BOOM!
James 3:4
Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.
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