Christians Who Fail to Influence Their Culture

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again?
–Matthew 5:13

I think you would have to agree that, on the whole, Christians aren’t doing that great of a job of influencing the culture, are we? One survey says that one-fourth of the US population claims to be evangelical Christian. Somebody put that in perspective pretty well with this illustration: A pound of meat would probably be influenced by a quarter pound of salt, don’t you think? Doesn’t take much salt to impact meat. If a quarter of our population are Christians, then why are American Christians so uninfluential in our culture today? There are two main reasons that we don’t make a bigger difference in our culture.

One reason is some Christians have become what I call “silo saints.” Instead of being salt that penetrates the meat, flavors the meat, and preserves the meat, these Christians remain in the salt shaker. They respond to our ungodly culture by retreating into their homes and churches, hoping to shelter themselves and their families from spiritual pollution. They pride themselves on their isolation, thinking they are remaining pure. They do not want to impose their Christian values on the culture, so they remain in their holy huddles.

But these Christians have made a false dichotomy between the sacred and the secular. They tend to believe the church is good, but the government is bad. They ignore the fact that God established both institutions (Acts 2; Romans 13:1-7). Society will be shaped by somebody’s values. The only question is, whose?

Another reason some Christians are not making any difference in the world today is that they are spiritual sellouts. These Christians have sold out to an ungodly lifestyle. They can’t point out sin in the culture because they don’t recognize it in their own lives. They choose to identify with the culture. You can’t tell them apart from unbelievers. These Christians believe that sin is not a big deal. In fact, they no longer use the word “sin” to describe behaviors that are outside of God’s standards.

Unlike Elijah, these Christians remain silent instead of proclaiming God’s truth about moral issues, fearful of being labeled a “religious fanatic” or losing a promotion or popularity. And if they have a friend who is willing to stand up for truth, then they distance themselves from that person, not wanting to experience any of the negative fallout their friend experiences.

But God doesn’t want us to be silo saints or spiritual sellouts. In John 17:14-17, Jesus asked God to keep us from isolation and identification with the world so that we might influence the world.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Secret #1: Discover Your Unique Purpose” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2017.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.