Getting off the cultural bandwagon.

Getting off the cultural bandwagon.

One of the biggest distractions we are faced with today is the Cultural Bandwagon. It comes rolling into our lives laden with packages of social blogs and friendly forums with the promise of keeping everyone connected as one big happy family. The highlights of life are displayed in an array of spectacular photos and videos and then compared to the messiness of our own lives. Real life is held captive just out of our reach and the byproduct of this pseudo community is the belief that everyone will come to our defense on the messy matters of life and what we end up with is an emoticon or likes.

Over the years I have lost precious time with my best friend Jesus because I was caught in the net of cyberspace. This place is best described as the place where conjecture breeds an unclear view of others and self. Productivity goes out the window and personal validation of ones self, life, and accomplishments are never affirmed. I can go on for a good while about the snares of the net but I think you get the point and I think if your were to ask Jesus yourself your would arrive at the same conclusions!

One of the most important aspects of my relationship with my Heavenly Father had become non-existent. I will refer to it as “A walk in the park.” You all remember the story of Enoch in scripture.

A walk in the Park

Genesis 15:24
And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

The purpose for identifying Enoch is first in order to glorify the grace of the God who is mightier than death and secondly to understand the simplicity of His walk. Further delving into the other aspects of His life to credit or discredit him only serves to bog one down and miss the whole simple point. The majority of Enoch’s devotion in life was spent walking with the Lord in what must have been a park like setting not far from the original Garden of Eden. It must have been like going to the Redwoods with your bestie!

On the first matter-the grace of the God who is mightier than death.


Romans 4:25
“He was delivered over to death for our sins, and was raised to life for our justification.”

Romans 5:10
“…we were reconciled to the Father through the death of His Son….”

Romans 6:3-5
“don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.


On the second matter-the simplicity of his walk.

The achievements of men are vast and varied but their work dies with them, but this man Enoch towers in significance above all the others. “I shall walk with God,” he determines. What greater ambition can there be to a lifetime spent walking with God?  You won’t find that kind of perspective to be the priority of the FB!

In the Old Testament we find two related expressions: ‘to walk before God’ and ‘to walk after God.’ In the military a soldier always walks before the eyes of the sergeant. He walks just as he’s been instructed, and so to walk before God suggests the same kind of lifestyle, and one that is pleasing to Him. The psalmist put it this way, “For thou hast delivered my soul from death, yea, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life” (Psa. 56:13). He has saved us so that we might spend our lives walking before Him.

Then there is this other phrase, to walk after God, and it suggests submission. As you know the sheep follow after the shepherd.
 
Deuteronomy 13.4
“You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him, and keep his commandments and obey his voice.”

That is where the simplicity of our walk begins. It is the core component of a walk with Jesus. You cannot have Jesus Christ as your Lord and walk like the rest of the world walks, or walk as your piers walk. We must follow the Lord in all sincerity and holiness. Why did God choose us in Christ before the foundation of the world? That we should be holy and blameless before him and that we should walk with him. What kind of Christian is a Christian without these two components?

Now, before you overload yourself with the idea that you will never be able to do anything to warrant this kind of walk with Him, realize that the relationship isn’t about you, it’s about Him and what He has done for you! A walk with God is definitely more than thinking that He is some kind of cosmic sheriff or just being aware that His eyes are on us while we follow Him each day. What God desires is much more! It is a life of communion with Him, a life of lifting up our hearts to Him often and instinctively, as someone we rely on moment by moment. It’s like this. You start a journey and you pray a silent prayer; you go to a event and you pray that God will make it an honorable occasion; you make a phone call as you you’re asking the Lord to be part of the conversation. There are two persons meeting, a Father and his child, and that fellowship makes our sincerity truly sincere, our holiness beautiful, our obedience an inner urge. There was intimacy between Enoch and God, a movement back and forth, a living relationship between them day after day. It wasn’t that Enoch spent five minutes in the morning considering the Word of God, making an occasional comment on it and then a having a brief prayer so he could then dismiss God from his life. There are men like that who say, “I’ve done my daily portion. I’m right with God,” and then they go on with their lives without another thought of God. No, to walk with God is to realize his presence and appropriate him as your Lord and Savior again and again, over and over, everywhere and at all times.

The cultural bandwagon brings community to your area absent of any room for time alone with God. Our devotion to Him is subtly traded in for a false since of community when in contrast, communion with God is not only satisfying but is a friendship that He longs to have with you. Ask yourself why am I so often prone to conjecture, discouraged in my walk, feeling condemned by the enemy and those around me? Last but not least, ask yourself why do I have such a large cyber friend’s list and still feel so isolated?

My prescription for you present predicament.

Cut the net.
Go for a walk with God.
Re-discover true community through communion at His table.
And jump off the cultural bandwagon.

John Fairrington

Commoner, Sinner, Saved by Grace!