Countercultural

Are you free? How do you use your freedom? Do you humble yourself before others? Are you willing to serve others in your freedom? Or, is your pride overriding your freedom and keeping you prisoner? Do you know pride can make you a captive?

In our culture, we see a lot of pride. Pride in ourselves. Pride in our jobs. Pride in our children. Pride in our standing in society. Pride in what we’ve done. Pride in how much we own. Pride in how pretty we look. Pride in how much money we have. Pride, pride, pride.

Our pride makes us a prisoner. Think not? Take a look at the short list above of things we may be proud about and ask yourself this question, “How much time and effort does it take to maintain our status so we can maintain our pride?”

If we are to follow our calling to be followers of Christ, we must release our pride. We are to be humble. We are to serve others. We are to put others ahead of ourselves. In being humble, we are free. Free to obey God in all He wants us to be and do.

Notice what happens when we don’t. We devour each other. Does that not describe what we see going on in the world? We see arguing, fighting, injustices, discrimination, and all manner of human destruction. This is not the loving and serving of others we are called to by God.

It seems counterintuitive to us that we are set free by humbly serving others. We don’t see the logic in it. Yet God told us in Isaiah 55:8 that our ways are not His ways. Jesus came, God in human form, to turn the world upside down. If we are to be His followers, we also must turn our logic upside down.

When we decide to be followers of Jesus, we are clothed in His image. We are not perfect, but we are to do as He did and follow His teaching. That means often doing the opposite of what we’ve learned in this world. It means being countercultural. Are we up to the task?

I pray we decide to be countercultural. I pray we all decide to be counterintuitive. I pray each on us will humble ourselves and serve others in love. Be a follower of Christ. Love your neighbor. Humble yourself. Serve others. Be free. Trust God.

Galatians 5:13-15 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.