MID EAST MUSINGS:  TAKE THREE

You would think it was a good thing, but…


When religion becomes culture, the task of separating from such becomes virtually impossible. The trappings of tradition offer considerably greater entanglement than we could have ever imagined.

I recently spent eight days immersed in a culture whose identity is deeply ingrained in a religious system that has existed for hundreds of years. It is a system serves a false god, promises a counterfeit hope and holds it’s constituents captive. Yet, in the middle of such, the places of worship remain virtually empty despite the constant presence of religion in everyday life.

To leave the practices of tradition would lead to familial extrication, perhaps even death. An outsider would consider it foolish to be trapped by society’s expectations. From an evangelical perspective, we wonder why the desire to follow Christ would be intentionally delayed due to cultural ramifications.

Yet, as we stand on the edge and gaze curiously across, a little self-evaluation seems prudent. How willing are we to lay aside the expectations of culture to get a greater grasp on the eternal? Affluence and prosperity beckon our time and attention. Even closer to home, believers can find themselves ensnared in the trapping of religion that have no foundation in Scripture. What is right tends to find its’ absolution in the expectations of others rather than the leading of the Holy Spirit.

It seems that the differences from the foreign culture are less obvious than previously thought. Perhaps it’s time to allow God to call us from the comfortable. At times like this we will find which homeland we really demands our allegiance…Strangers, Pilgrims and Aliens never did fit well…