About a month after I decided to take my writing more seriously—before I knew it could become a book—the world closed down and cancel culture began. It was a deafening world with scary repercussions for someone brandishing their sword of words. Not that we ever step out to hurt someone, but anything worth saying should change people—at least someone, and let’s be honest. Change can hurt. It can even feel offensive.
No matter our callings, our lives should seek to offer freedom to those who have yet to find what we have in Christ Jesus, and yet not everyone views their chains as bondage. Therefore, it takes bravery to live these out. At the same time, we are so aware that we too are not perfect nor will be this side of heaven. For instance, being a girl who didn’t know what she was doing watching so many be canceled due to things they said or did when they were preteens be so totally slandered despite any growing, learning, or changing they’d done since then.
For those of us familiar with the Good News, we know this to be the very opposite of the gospel. While the world says, “it doesn’t matter what you’re doing now—you did something when you were 14, and now you’re banished.” God’s amazing love miraculously says something very different. He tells us that while we were still sinners, having not changed nor harboring intention to, he sent his son who died so that we might be saved despite deserving to be banished. The world says you messed up and you can never earn nor change our view of you. God says you messed up, let me fix you and show you how I see you.
While we know and believe this, the church and Christian media often operates much differently than this truth and much more like the world’s standards. It’s a wonderful blessing to live redeemed, however we take things too far when we begin to play the role of Redeemer—all the while withholding forgiveness or even benefit of the doubt. We’re all guilty of these feelings and yet we don’t have to be conspirators in this scheme. Here’s how it looks: a Christian band, pastor, author, speaker, anyone does something we don’t agree with, and off our list they go.
Let’s pause here and acknowledge that not everyone is going to love and agree with every speaker, author, and singer. That’s okay to recognize healthy boundaries and convictions we have. It’s also true that there is such thing as false teachers—the bible told us there would be, as hard to fathom and scary as that may be. So, I’m leaving room here for these possibilities. What we also need to leave room for in the church though is authentic people who love and serve the same God in a different capacity than we would. In the same world where we leave room for differences, we must also make allowances for those differences not to negate someone’s intentions as good. In a faith where we truly believe the Holy Spirit to be our own advocate and intercessor, we must believe he also does the same for our brothers and sisters, therefore freeing us from taking on that role in others’ lives.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 5:14-16
In the book of John, Jesus says he is the light of the world, yet here in Matthew, he tells his followers they are. This isn’t a change in the narrative or inconsistency, but rather making the connection that we as believers are the light of the world because he is in us. This is also the same Bible that says it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me, therefore if he is light, and it is now he who lives in me, I therefore am now light.
I do not wish to convey that this task ought to be taken lightly—goodness knows I’ve lost actual sleep over whether or not I’m doing this well. Not that we have to fear, but I do think walking in our callings in reverence and constant prayer is both good and absolutely necessary. However, I can only be in charge of me and even fretting, I’ll still get it wrong sometimes. And so will you. Can I be the mouthpiece when he calls me or convicts me to approach a sister in Christ? Yes. Can I be the speaker of hard but freeing truth when he calls me to write such? Hopefully. Yes. Does being a truth-teller charge me with being a referee for others’ personal convictions? No.
Notice that the verse does not say, “a city sitting on a hill,” as though it just happens to be there by chance. No, it says, “a city set on a hill.” This simple wording change implies so much purpose and intentionality, and who do we think set it there? Furthermore, why would I think it is my job to tell that city how to shine or function when I was not the one who set it there in the first place?
We try so hard to cling to the truth that our worth is not in what others think of us, only in what God says. This is true and we need to remind ourselves of this often. Yet at the very same time we continue to communicate about others—especially those we think will never hear our words (but they do and they’re human), that their worth is based on what they do, never stopping to think perhaps this God of creation may have given them a different tool for a different task.
In Exodus, God brings his people out of slavery and despair, and he’s getting ready to set them up (eventually) in a land flowing with milk and honey. It’s a gift, but he also has commandments and laws they must follow to remain true to Him. Among these laws, there are all these specific directions on how to and how not to use and deal with things they don’t even have yet. Like land and possessions. In a bible study recently, the speaker pointed out that when they receive this, they have basically the clothes on their backs and perhaps what they can carry. Yet, God knows where he’s taking them and subsequently, what they will need to know when they get there. He’s giving them the laws to follow before he moves them to their destination and become equipped with such things.
While this was the law of which we are no longer under, I believe God could very much function this same way as far as personal convictions. What is permissible or not permissible to you may not make sense right now. What convicts you and not others, or vice versa, may seem confusing and even vexing at times, but that’s because we are not yet where God is taking us. Yet he knows and is equipping us each for what we will need before we get there. Therefore, we cannot possibly be the spokesperson to someone else for their personal convictions. We don’t know what God is doing in their lives—we barely know what he’s doing in our own!
Lest you leave this page hearing anything else other than what I’m about to say, please hear this: if you feel convicted about reading or watching or listening to any material, please heed that—that is the Holy Spirit for whatever reason convicting you personally over something that you may not understand and everyone else who feels differently definitely does not have to understand. You don’t have to explain that to anyone, you need only heed his voice and direction. Likewise, we do not have to always understand someone else to give the benefit of the doubt that they too are heeding his voice if their choices look differently.
This applies not just to the brothers and sisters in our community, but also in the world. In any Christian media form. When the church makes an effort to put something out into the world to glorify God, let us be slow to speak and quick to listen. Let us not grab our pitchforks for something that perhaps we’d have done differently but could be used as a tool in the kingdom of God. The source of our light is the same and all of us have the purpose of shining our light where we’ve been set; but what we need to acknowledge is: we will all shine differently. We will be different lights for different functions. We need only ask the parents of a toddler old enough to reach a light switch if this holds any weight. Would we rather awake to a small lamp or the overhead fluorescents? The fluorescents aren't bad, they are just jarring for where we are. Likewise, a lamp may not be what we need for more tedious tasks. This is how much our functions will differ. Both necessary and set for a purpose, and neither needing to look like the other.
The Lord knows what he’s doing—and he speaks to each one of us, so we do not need to go around shooting every attempt down that the Christian community makes to draw the world. If it’s a Christian movie we disagree with, is the whole of it bad or could it be used for good? Perhaps it’s an author we don’t fully see eye to eye with—are they teaching a false gospel, or do we just not agree on some of the grey topics or the way they communicate it? Or Christian music—perhaps we feel a conviction about it, but is it life-giving to someone else? In fact, sometimes it’s not even a conviction but a dislike that moves us to speak. Books, stories, retreats—these can all be the same story. For some reason, we have no issue whatsoever endorsing a movie or book that contains no God in it but is a good story we liked, yet we are entirely hypercritical on any outlet that contains Christian messages if we do not agree with the entirety of the product. Yes, we should have a reverence for materials that contain his name, but don’t you think this is a little backwards? Is the alternative that would please us to have no efforts made for his name if they cannot be how we’d make them?
When there is sin that is specifically and clearly stated in the bible, we have to be willing to speak truth only rooted in love to those who have been deceived. Even still, our battle is not against flesh and blood. For all of the other times though, let’s stop being actual devil’s advocates and cease running to put baskets over other people’s lamps. Everything we don't love isn't heresy. We do not know what God may be doing in someone's life and the lives of those around them, but we do know this: candles should ignite other candles, not put them out. Let’s stop and pray for the Lord to search our hearts when we find ourselves disproving of someone else’s efforts and ask: is this truly about them or is this actually about me? Let’s simply trust not just that God will lead us, but that through his Spirit he will also lead others.
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