Polarized Culture

The American culture today is one of division and polarization. We saw it in the midterm elections where people who believed in conservative values could not vote for conservative candidates because of their hatred for Trump and his association with them. We see it in the media when one side takes a hard stance, essentially calling those who oppose their opinions “fools”, completely ignoring the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:22 to not call your brother a fool. In our culture, many Christians are being tossed like waves, taking one side or the other to extremes, promoting that polarization. Ephesians 4 seems to say that as followers of Christ we can grow up and become united, when each individual uses their specific gifting and builds up others in love. 

We’ve been told that there would come a day where what is right would be said to be wrong, and what is wrong would be seen as right. We are living in those days. Our only hope is not to join them by listening to them, believing them and communicating to others in the same way that they communicate to us, but rather to come together and to love each other and in turn to love them.

In this world of polarization we love only those that agree with us. In Luke 6, Jesus told us that it is easy to love when we are loved in return, He reminded us that everyone can do that. He follows that remark by asking us to love our enemies, expecting nothing in return. We can do this, we can put others before ourselves, we can be united, but not if we continue trusting the words of the masses and ignoring the words of the humble, gentle, selfless Godman that lived and died for us almost 2,000 years ago.