Cultural Christianity Based on "Just Getting Along"

I am convinced most Christian were not born again in past generations, they were engaging in a cultural Christianity that they perceived as a private matter. There were probably more authentic believers but not everyone who claimed to be a believer was born again.

Matthew 7:21-23
"I Never Knew You
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

My mother was of this sort. She had certain rules but she was jealous and mean. She attended church every Sunday most of her life, dragging my father along. But our home was a sad and horrible place. When the culture loosened up on things, moving away from the Bible she did too because she didn't know the Bible.

When I respectfully corrected her on a false belief after I had become born again, she became angry and refused to hear what the Bible said. And yet she was in church her entire life. She was indicative of the relatives I grew up around. They were generally moral people because the culture wouldn't accept immorality, but they accepted it in their children later when the culture in the 1960's became more rebellious.

The evidence of a born again experience is the constant and steady desire for the Word of God no matter who accepts it or not.

Those who fluctuate with the culture are not being led by the Holy Spirit, they are being led by the culture around them.

The sin in our heart is revealed when the culture is able to whip us around in this way.

When we can remain faithful to truth even in the face of rejection no matter what the culture is doing or who we lose as friends, then our heart is revealed toward Christ.

John 15:19
"If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."

Those who flow down stream with the world will have many friends and much praise. Those who have trusted Christ will not operate the same way as the world, they will be seeking truth from the Holy Spirit and acting upon that truth.

May those who read this be encouraged to keep on keeping on the path God has for them no matter what others do.