I read the other day that, in Exodus, the Israelites had been in Egypt for around 400 years, yet even after all that time they still called themselves “Israelites”. They never adopted the culture, the name, or the customs of the Egyptians. They were choosing to be different than what they were surrounded in. I started thinking about how that should be translated to us, as Christians, today. Can we be strong enough to live is a culture that needs Christians to “stand out” more than ever?

I know there is no real point in arguing this, because to some, I will be considered “closed minded” and “irrelevant”. I will be considered not part of this so-called “emergent” church movement that is so “revolutionary”.

You know what? I don’t think I need to be hip. I don’t need to be cutting edge, hang out with porn stars, have Green Day playing at my church, or give into every temptation that comes my way because I am “being honest” and desperately hoping people think I am super-spiritual because of it. That just seems too easy for me.

It bothers me to see church leaders that try so hard to prove that they are relevant, and hip with the culture and pass off their own desperation to be “cool” as an attempt to “reach the lost”. Yes, it does happen. Yes we are told to be “all things to all men”, but we were also called to be “set apart” and sometimes the “honesty” of certain church leaders, just proves to me that they shouldn’t be in the position that they are.

“Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” - Philippians 3:19-20

I see a lot of “glory in shame” passed off as “honesty” these days.