Our politically charged society has a new term: cancel culture. The tipping point of the concept came from differing slants on Confederate war monuments. Some say they glorify treason and should be removed from public display; others say that’s our history and we shouldn’t try to cancel our culture. Let’s not get into the political, because we face a deeper issue of cancel culture in the church—where many cancel core beliefs about following Jesus. Not necessarily intentionally or knowingly, but many times we miss the warning of Christian philosopher and author Frances Schaeffer above.
How? When asked about the core of his beliefs, Jesus replied, “You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40, NLT). Or, if you love God and others, you’re good!
But Jesus, as he so often did, took it a step further, “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:34-35, NLT).
In his convicting book The Mark of the Christian, Schaeffer shared the semi-unspoken consequence of that last sentence, “We are to love all true Christian brothers in a way that the world may observe. This means showing love to our brothers in the midst of our differences-great or small-loving our brothers when it costs us something, loving them even under times of tremendous emotional tension, loving them in a way the world can see… Upon his authority he gives the world the right to judge whether you or I are born again Christians on the basis of our observable love toward all Christians.”
When people read our political posts, do they see love expressed despite differing opinions? Could they think, “Look at this! In our crazy world, they disagree agreeably!” Or might they say, “How can such an angry and judgmental person be a Christ follower? These Christians can’t even get along!”
Schaeffer continued, “It is possible to be a Christian without showing the mark, but if we expect non-Christians to know that we are Christians, we must show the mark.”
Do we show the mark? When we don’t, we cancel out what Jesus said is the second great commandment. Here’s another way of phrasing this: do we love our political positions more than we love our brothers and sisters? And maybe that touches the first great commandment.
Kick Starting the Application
Have you been dissed by fellow followers of Jesus for your political positions? Have you had the genuineness of your faith questioned? How did that feel? How did it impact the relationship with that person? Now, let’s flip it. Have you dissed a brother or sister for different opinions? Would they have felt love from you?
Now, please craft three practical steps you will do this week to build an observable love for ALL fellow believers.