Get out of this sick and stupid culture

Peter said, "Change your life. Turn to God and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so your sins are forgiven. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is targeted to you and your children, but also to all who are far away - whomever, in fact, our Master God invites." He went on in this vein for a long time, urging them over and over, "Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!" Acts 2:37-40 MSG

God invites us to be part of His kingdom, His way of doing life. His ways are different to ours. He is full of grace and unconditional love. Whereas we are so often driven by our own selfish desires. Jesus didn't waste words when He spoke about the sinful nature.

And He said, What comes out of a man is what makes a man unclean and renders [him] unhallowed. For from within [that is] out of the hearts of men, come base and wicked thoughts, sexual immorality, stealing, murder, adultery, coveting (a greedy desire to have more wealth), dangerous and destructive wickedness, deceit; unrestrained (indecent) conduct, an evil eye (envy), slander (evil speaking, malicious mispresentation, abusiveness), pride (the sin of an uplifted heart against God and man), foolishness (folly, lack of sense, recklessness, thoughtlessness). Mark 7:20-22 AMP

That is quite a list! What's more, none of us are innocent when it comes to that list! We are sinners.

As it is written, None in righteous, just and truthful and upright and conscientious, no, not one. Romans 3:10 AMP

But as Peter said in the above scripture, the promise of having our sins forgiven is targeted to us, our children and all those far away. We have the opportunity through Jesus to be in right-standing before God.

Yet, God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. Romans 3:24-25a NLT

So now, knowing we have the opportunity to be in right-standing with God through Jesus, let's take heed of the last part of Peter's speech, "Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!" Let's take a moment to think about our culture, and ask ourselves some questions. Does our culture promote seeking right-standing with God? Does our culture promote God's forgiveness for our sins? Or does our culture promote a lot of self-gratifying behaviour, especially amongst the youth of society? Here is a very thought-provoking scripture, from Ecclesiastes, probably written in the 3BC! How relevant is it for today?

Here's a piece of bad business I've seen on this earth, An error that can be blamed on whoever is in charge: Immaturity is given a place of prominence, While maturity is made to take a back seat. I've seen unproven upstarts riding in style, While experienced veterans are put out to pasture. Ecclesiastes 10:5-7 MSG

Questions for today, do we just 'go along' with our culture, without questioning how it fits with God's ways? Do we take time to analyse our 'thinking and doing', ensuring we are not just 'thinking and doing' things just because it is the trend of our culture? Are we using God's word as our benchmark for our thoughts and actions? Let's ask God to help us to do a 'stock-take' of our thoughts and actions, and show us where adjustment is necessary. Let's choose to fix our attention on God, and not be sabotaged by our 'me-focussed' culture.

Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings out the best of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. Romans 12:2 MSG