Repenting of culture...
I might try one illustration among many
possibilities; let's see if y'all get where I'm coming from.
You know, with FULL gusto I used to both sing
and mean "If heaven ain't a lot like Dixie, I don't want to go." Hank
Williams, Jr. gave me those words in one of his songs, but I owned them in my
heart.
Now, hear me out, if you are able and willing.
I didn't mean I loved the negative things that are typical of the South, but I
certainly meant the things I called "good." See, that was / is the
problem... I had a skewed, if not completely faulty understanding of
"good."
Part of the song says:
"If Heaven ain't a lot like Dixie
I don't wanna go
If Heaven ain't a lot like Dixie
I'd just as soon stay home
If they don't have a Grand Ole Opry
Like they do in Tennessee
Just send me to Hell or New York City
It would be about the same to me"
Okay... um... no.
While I honestly don't want to go to New York
City (or any big city), I really, really, really don't want to go to hell. Even
more so, I don't want ANYTHING to cause me to miss God!
Back when I sang that song from my heart, I
didn't understand heaven, hell, this cotton-picking world, or even the South,
for that matter!
It's like fried chicken, red solo cups,
hunting, fishing, and loving every minute and a host of other things that don't
hold a candle to Father, Son, or Holy Ghost... until we treasure Him above
those things, and are willing for those things to be turned to ash BY OUR OWN
HAND, those things will be our gods in practice, even if we name God our God in
speech.
Mostly, we have to be willing to die to all
the pieces of culture we love... those pieces we've built ourselves with... and
that sort of death is terrifying. And liberating for those who find it...
Jesus says (what sounds to us to be radical)
things: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up
his cross daily, and follow me." (Luke 9:23 KJV) Or, perhaps the New
Living Translation may give it fresh light for you: "If any of you wants
to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross
daily, and follow me."
"...let him deny himself..."
"...turn from your selfish ways..."
Most of the things we love in our culture are
things we love about ourselves. We've built ourselves out of so many bits and
pieces of our culture that to deny or disdain those things puts self square in
the crosshairs.
So we argue over ........ EVERYTHING....
What are these quarrels among us? The Apostle
James says it's because we want and we can't have, so we slay each other in
pursuit (see James 4).
Much of why we quarrel is because we are
fighting over so many little pieces of self, rather than sharing in the
eternal, flowing, free, full, plentiful life of God together.
You like this team; I like that one... fight.
You love this music; I hate it... fight.
You drive this truck; I drive that one... fight.
You hate this flag; I love that one... fight.
You love this politician; I love the other one... fight.
On and on...
Race.
Class.
Economic status.
Gender.
Geographical regions.
On and on...
Whatever we can be divided over, we divide
over it, and we fight.
But the one who turns from selfish ways seeks
the good of others. The one who denies self considers others.
The one who considers self first in all things
must claw, grab, and fight to protect the things of self.
Self-love seeks self-comfort...self-pleasure...self-promotion...self-exaltation...just
self. Most of the grabbing of all the little pieces of culture are us loving
ourselves. Our identity is rooted in self, not in Christ, so we must answer
every challenge to self. We feel compelled to fight over so many things in our
culture. We are fighting over in the flesh what we are commanded to fork over
in the Spirit.
All these pieces of self become our
"Dixie" and we say "if heaven ain't a lot Dixie, I don't want to
go." It's like saying, "If walking with God is giving up _________
and ___________ and ___________, I'd just as soon not walk with God."
Now, let's wrestle with this... Jesus says
"If any of you wants to be my follower..." Ah! There's the crux of
the issue! Do I want to be a follower of Jesus? Me? Yes! Then, I must
"turn from [my] selfish ways."
As a follower of Jesus, none of my cultural
bits or personal historical pieces are as important as Him. NONE of them, nor
ALL of them.
And, when I cling to those things, I am not
clinging to Him.
Jesus demands preeminence in our lives. He
will brook no rival to His Lordship.
If heaven is NOTHING like Dixie, I don't care,
I want to go to heaven. If Jesus must kill off every personal preference I hold
to draw me near to Himself, so be it; light the funeral pyres.
None of the bits I have collected, nor ALL of
them, are worth missing out on God... it's not "I may lose me" ... I
WILL lose me, but Ah! Hallelujah! I will gain Him, and that my friends is
better than the whole of everything else combined.
Jesus, be my identity. Lead me to joyfully
give up everything in and around me that keeps me from You. Amen.
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