How Then Should We Eat?

Over the last several months I've encountered several Christians who have attempted to vegan. As someone who loves a good steak, this caught me by surprise. In talking with these individuals they all had one thing in common, they were all brought to this point by watching the documentary What the Health. This documentary makes a unapologetic pro-vegan argument which tries to scare, disgust, and guilt people into becoming vegan. As a pastor I know when I encounter multiple Christians struggling with the same thing, there are certainly many more. 

I am convinced the Bible gives us truth and guidance for every area of life, this includes eating. It may surprise people, but the Bible speaks a lot about food. From God commanding mankind not to eat from a certain tree in the Garden, to God’s command to Noah after the flood, to the dietary laws of Israel, all the way to when Peter receives his vision declaring all foods clean we see that Scripture addresses food all the time. The Bible has a lot to say about, but the question is, "Are we listening?"

Most Christians probably don’t have a conscious theology of how they should eat. This is complicated by at least three trends. First, for years we have had access to whatever food we want whenever we want it. This has led to an epidemic of constant over-eating and high levels of obesity. Second, younger generations have swung the pendulum in the other direction by equating certain diets being hip and even morally superior. Third, often when the church enters into this discussion it is done without taking into account the whole testimony of Scripture. Instead, well-meaning Christians try to ride the diet fad of our culture by myopically focusing on texts which fit that narrative. In doing so they do not have a comprehensive understanding of what Scripture teaches about eating.  

I want to give us an introduction to the basic principles of what God’s Word says about eating so that we can build a biblical foundation in this area of life. Wanting to eat right and to be healthy are praiseworthy goals, but we need to start our understanding with Scripture and not biased documentaries.  Here are ten principles Christians need to consider about eating as they try to glorify God in every area of life. 

Documentaries Are Never Neutral

This really should go without saying,  Christians shouldn’t treat documentaries as gospel-truth or even like reading a textbook. Much like our news media is biased in one direction or the other, the same is true of documentaries. Documentaries try to persuade others to join their position. Sometimes they do this by twisting facts and downright lying. What The Health is a prime example of this as it is has been demonstrated by several sources that the documentary is less than honest (click here, here, and here for more information). This should not be a surprise. Proverbs 18.17 reminds us of a crucial truth, “The one who states his case first seems right until the other comes and examines him.” This documentary is only one side of a story, and it appears to not even be an honest account of available information. Christians need to be careful to not be tossed to and fro by every truth-claim presented in a stylistic and appealing format. 

If you want an authority on how you should eat, turn to Scripture first, not documentaries. This doesn’t mean you need chapter and verse for every item you eat, rather it means if you understand what God has said in his Word it will certainly shape how you eat. 

We Should Steward Our Bodies Well

Mankind is created in the image of God and this includes his physical body. As both image-bearers and those who will be physically resurrected, we place a high-value on the body. It is not God-honoring to abuse our bodies in any way, including how we eat.

Our Bodies Are Not to be Worshiped

While our bodies are important they are not a temple in the modern sense of the word. They are not untouchable. The health and preservation of our bodies is not the chief concern of Christians. Rather our bodies in this age will waste away (2 Cor. 4.16), no matter how healthy we eat or how much we exercise. If the Lord tarries all of us will die, whether you forgo steak or not. So pass the steak sauce. 

Do Not Let Your Diet Rule Over You

The Christian is to be mastered by nothing besides Christ (1 Cor. 6.12), yet too many of us are slaves to our diet. This can take the form of being a slave by desiring food too much, or you can be a slave to your diet by placing too many rules on yourself (and others) so that there is no freedom in the way you eat. Both legalism and licentiousness are wrong in all areas of life. If your diet rules your life by either excess freedom or strict rigidity, then you are not eating as a Christian should. 

All Foods Are Lawful for the Christian

In the Old Covenant, there were certain foods which were off-limits for God’s people, but that is no longer the case (Mark. 7.14-23). For the Christian, it is far more important how you live morally than what specific items you eat or don’t eat. There is nothing inherently wrong with eating meat, and there is nothing wrong with not eating meat. The Christian has freedom. But we must guard against treating our diets, whatever they may be, as a source of personal righteousness or moral superiority. 

Food is Meant to be Enjoyed

One of the blessings God has given to mankind is food. The biological purpose of food is for nutrition and sustenance, but another purpose for food is for us to enjoy it. When food tastes good, even when it is covered in sugar, it is a blessing from God not to be ignored. Ecclesiastes 2.24 says, “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God.” Notice our enjoyment of our food is “from the hand of God.” This is a grace God has given us. So eat food you enjoy, have treats occasionally, but do so responsibly.

It Is a Good and Holy Thing to Feast

God commanded his people to observe many feasts in the Old Testament. These feasts were celebrations of God and his goodness. At these feasts, people would eat more than was necessary to survive. This was God’s design and his good command to this people. In feasting we eat lots of food in celebration of God and the good things he has given us. Whether it is a wedding feast, the feast of tabernacles, a celebration of the return of the prodigal, or the wedding feast of the Lamb, it is a good and holy thing to use good food to celebrate God and his many graces to us. Holy individuals know how to feast in such a way as to honor and glorify God. There is no need to feel guilty about feasting in such a way as to praise God's goodness. 

Do Not Let Your Diet Become a Wall of Division

Another purpose of food is to bring people together, but far too often people’s diets drive divisions between one another. We must remember food is not more important than people. Unless you have a legitimate food allergy, you should be able to forgo your dietary preferences whenever you go to someone else’s house out of love and deference to them.  1 Corinthians is again helpful here, “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. For ‘the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof.’  If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience” (1 Cor. 10.24-27).   We must consider others as more important than our dietary preferences and by doing so we display the gospel in a tangible way. 

It Isn’t Sinful to Eat Food Which Wasn't Produced Ethically

One argument consistently used today to promote certain diets is that it is morally wrong to eat food which arrived at our plates through what is suggested as unethical ways like the mistreatment of animals. Many people will only eat organic, free-range, fair-trade, or even vegan because they view the processes of the production of that food to be immoral. This argument assumes that if someone buys and eat unethically produced food then they are just as guilty as well. t is here that 1 Corinthians 8-10 needs to be studied carefully. In the church of Corinth, there was division over whether or not Christians should eat meat which was sacrificed to idols.  This is a serious question as this meat arrived on people’s plates through the breaking of the greatest commandment—to love the Lord God above all else. There is nothing more unethical than that. Would Christians be sinning if they eat bought and ate meat which was sacrificed to false gods?  Paul tells the Corinthians that if the meat is sold in the marketplace they do not need to ask or care how it got there (1 Corinthians 10.25). It would not be wrong for them to buy meat which arrived in the marketplace through less than ethical means. In other words, it is not immoral for Christians to buy food and eat it even if arrived in the marketplace through unethical production.  Christian, you do not need to know where your food before you eat it. You are not responsible for the sins of others. 

Seek to Glorify God in How You Eat

The Christian life is about glorifying God through Christ in all we do. This is only possible because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is that gospel which must shape our entire lives including how we eat. There is nothing wrong with eating meat, and there is nothing wrong with not eating meat. There is freedom for the Christian in eating, but this freedom is not more important than other people. Christians must examine their hearts and reasoning before the words of God. Only then we will do what Paul exhorted us to do in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” We glorify God when we think and eat according to the truths God has displayed in his Word. Scripture, not documentaries, must be our primary lens for understanding how to eat. I hope these ten principles help you to eat unto the glory of God and not man. 

By: Levi J. Secord

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The Church is a Safe Place & Other Lies that Led Us to This Point

Last week I wrote about The Nashville Statement and why it is a praiseworthy statement deserving our endorsement. I also acknowledged that progressive Christians have responded with their usual regressive tantrums. For this we also should be thankful, clarity has been brought as we see how individuals respond. You must either condemn the idol of the current sexual revolution, or you must worship it. There is no middle ground. This statement has brought that clarity to the forefront.

J. Gresham Machen in the early 1900s dealt with the rise of theological liberalism. Is his classic work, Christianity & Liberalism, Machen lays out how theological liberalism is not Christian in the slightest; rather it is a completely different religion. Like Machen, we face a movement that claims Christ, which uses many of the same terms as we do, and yet it is an entirely different religion. This is evident in the rebuttals issued against The Nashville Statement. Machen was correct when he wrote, “Light may seem at times to be an impertinent intruder, but it is always beneficial in the end.” The Nashville Statement sheds light on how separated we really are from the so-called progressive Christians.

The question we should now ask is, “How did we get here? What led us to this point?” These types of changes and divisions only appear to happen overnight. In fact, they have been a long time coming.  The division between evangelicals and progressives is far deeper than whether or not homosexuality is sinful. Our differences lay in how we understand God, the work of Christ, the nature of mankind, and what the church is. Sadly, there is confusion even among evangelicals that is crippling our ability to respond to progressives. The difficulties stem from the reality many of us have already taken steps down the progressive path without even realizing it.

Below are three lies many in evangelicalism have accepted.  These lies (and many more) serve as part of the assumed foundation for the reasoning of progressives in accepting homosexuality and transgenderism:

Lie #1: The Church is a Safe Place

One objection raised against The Nashville Statement is that the church is to be a safe place—a place which accepts everyone as they are. The current statement is wrong because it makes church an unsafe place for homosexuals. To be clear, the church is a place of grace where forgiveness is extended through the blood of Christ and granted upon repentance. Yet nowhere in the New Testament will you find the church described as a safe place the way the term is used today. Surely all are welcome to come to church, but what they are to find there is teaching and preaching that calls for a change of life (repentance) and which challenges the values of our age. The gospel challenges us in our sin and calls us to holiness through faith in Christ. The church is inclusive in that all are welcome to come and repent.

Even a cursory reading of the New Testament shows that the church is not a safe place. In Ephesians 6 we are told how the church is to be prepared for spiritual warfare with Satan. In Revelation 2-3 we see how the church is threatened with persecution in this age. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul commands the removal of sexual immoral people from the church. In the next chapter, he writes no one who practices sexual immorality (including homosexuality) will not inherit the kingdom of God.  In Galatians 5 Paul wishes that the false teachers troubling that church would castrate themselves (that’s certainly not safe). Finally, there is the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. These two lied about their property sale and were both killed on site by God in the church. It is clear the church was not a safe place for those who persisted in hypocritical wickedness. So no, the church is not a safe place. It is a place where snowflakes melt either in the light of the glory of Christ or in the fire of God’s holiness.

So what is the church supposed to be? It is to be a holy place where God’s elect grow in faithfulness and conduct spiritual warfare through bringing all things under submission to Christ. It is not a place where it is safe for people to live and think any way they want. In fact, the New Testament warns us again and again that God will not tolerate such sinful behavior in the church. The safety of the church is not rooted in the modern understanding of self-affirmation and tolerance. Rather, the safety of the church is rooted in Christ’s sacrificial death and victorious resurrection.

Lie #2: Religion is to be Therapeutic

As relativism has pushed aside the idea of universal truth it has impacted the how people view religion. Religion once was seen as a pursuit of universal truth revealed to us by God, but now it is about helping individuals feel better about themselves. For progressives, Christianity is about making our lives in the now better. If this the main point, and not seeking truth and God, then why would anyone be excluded from it?

Christianity does not promise you your best life now. In fact, it promises suffering and calls its adherents to die to the self. At its heart, Christianity claims to be universal truth revealed to us by God through propositional truth claims found in Scripture. Christianity is not about offering you therapy. It won’t always make you feel better, sometimes it might make you feel worse.

But the Gospel offers forgiveness, restoration to God, and new life in Jesus.  Following Christ comes at a cost, the cost of leaving everything in repentance and faith. This is not about feelings, it is about the truth claims of the Gospel.

Lie #3: The Gospel is about Self-Fulfillment

In its pursuit of relevance, many churches have turned the gospel into a self-improvement model. Every Sunday across the country you will hear sermons on Five Ways to Raise Better Children, Three Ways to Fix Your Finances, Seven Tips for Better Communication, and Four Ways to Improve Your Marriage. What is at the center of such a message? Self-fulfillment. If this is the heart of Christianity, to be relevant in order to improve ourselves, then why would we require anyone to deny themselves and repent? Don’t repent, just seek the best you!  

The truth is the call of the gospel is self-denial, to pick up your cross and follow Christ. This requires repentance, a radical change of identity and direction. This only happens when the Holy Spirit regenerates an individual.  When the Spirit transforms someone, they leave behind their old life to follow Christ. But if being a Christian is really about seeking yourself, then anything goes.

The heart of the Christian faith is a crucified savior which is seen as both offensive and foolish to the world (1 Cor. 1.23). The cross is not safe, it is not about feeling better about ourselves, and it is certainly not about self-fulfillment. When we move the message of the cross from the center of our message; we will reap what we are getting today. If we lose the heart of God’s good news to mankind, then anything goes.

Tearing Down Idols & The Nashville Statement

This week a group of evangelical pastors and theologians released a statement on what the Bible teaches about human sexuality called The Nashville Statement. This statement specifically addresses gender issues and homosexuality in light of Scripture. The statement is worth reading as it lays out the biblical teaching on these subjects by a series of statements Christians should affirm and deny. You can read it here.  

I have read the statement and I agree wholeheartedly with its assertions. This statement reflects what Scripture has taught and what the Christian church has affirmed for two-thousand years. Thus I have added my name to this statement.

The responses from the secular world have been predictable, as have the responses been from those who fancy themselves progressive Christians. These rebuttals center around appealing to other authorities, which shows us this is not faith versus science. It is faith versus faith. They have an ultimate authority which they appeal to, they have their god they follow as well. Yet the question I want to address is why this is a good and necessary action at our present moment.

The Idol of the Sexual Revolution

Recently I preached on Judges 6 and the call of Gideon. In this chapter, God calls Gideon to be the instrument of deliverance for his rebellious people, but first Gideon must tear down the idol to Baal in his hometown. To do so was to declare war on what his society held most dear. While we do not have many people bowing their physical knee to carved images and offering sacrifices to them, idolatry is still a problem. Anything which stands in opposition to Christ, which is elevated above him, stands as an idol which must come down.

In our cultural moment, there is no bigger idol than the current sexual revolution. This is why the church had to respond. The false gospel which our age promotes is an idea of sexual freedom, which is really sexual perversion. This sexual ethic is the path to fulfillment, meaning, happiness, and salvation. You need to be who you are, and then life will be better.

Moreover, to be righteous in our world you must affirm the goodness of such actions. You are not allowed to be neutral, you too must praise and worship this ethic.  This is the chief idol of our day, it is our Baal, and all faithful Christians must not only refuse to bend the knee to Baal, we must strive to tear that idol down. Why? Because we know who God is. If Christianity is true, then the idol of sexual freedom really only offers slavery and death. Life is found in Christ, not in sexual practices and identities. The choice is between life and death; salvation and damnation.

Much like Gideon in Judges 6, we must stand opposed to anything which stands opposed to God’s Word. As Christians, we believe the Bible to be God’s Word, and if he has spoken, then it carries his full authority. God is the highest authority in the universe. It follows then that anything which stands opposed to his Word also stands opposed to God himself. There is no middle ground; you cannot be in the middle of the true God and false gods. You are one side or the other.

Christian, this is the test of our time, we can either be faithful to God, or we can follow the Baals of our day. We cannot do both. We should expect opposition anytime we attempt to tear down someone’s idol. When Gideon destroyed the idol in his town, the townsfolk demanded his head. We should expect no less. People do not like it when you attack their gods.

This statement draws a line between life and death. You cannot worship the God of Scripture and the false gods of this age. Faithfulness requires us to stand in clear contrast with the false gods of our age. The Nashville Statement recognizes this reality, and for that all faithful Christians should be thankful.  

A Time to Mourn and a Time to Dance

This week marks two important anniversaries in my life and these two events have brought home to me the tension of life in a fallen world. Ecclesiastes 3 speaks of this tension telling there is a time for everything.  A time to be born and a time to die. A time to tear down and a time to build. Verse 4 hits home this week, “a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.”

The Pals family

These two anniversaries demonstrate the two extremes of life illustrated in this text. One year ago today I woke up to my wife yelling as she came up the stairs to tell me our good friend, Jamison Pals, his wife Kathryne, and their three children died in a tragic car accident on their way to missionary training the day before. It took a good while to process the news. To an extent, I am still processing it in light of this the one year anniversary. This week is a time to mourn for us, our friends, and the families who lost so much that day.

This week also includes the opposite extreme—celebration. The second anniversary for me this week will be the joy of celebrating ten years of marriage with Emily.  I am a truly blessed man to have been given by God such a lovely and godly spouse. So this week is also a time for my wife and me to laugh and to dance in joy of the grace God has given us in our marriage. Two extremes found in one verse and in one week for us.

Me & my groomsmen ten years ago thinking we were cool 

These anniversaries share more than the same week. Ten years ago when got married, Jamison was a groomsman in our wedding. He was a friend of Emily’s from high school and he became a dear friend of mine while we were all at Northwestern. Our joy and sorrow this week are intertwined.

So how are we to handle these two extremes, these two drastically different anniversaries?

Who Can Make Straight What God Has Made Crooked?

Ecclesiastes helps us navigate the tensions of life in a fallen world. This book meets us in the battle of living in a world full of both evil and good.  In 7:13 we read this, “Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked?” This question addresses the reality that we all live in a world which is bent because of sin. This world is not as it should be, we feel it in every breath we take. It is bent because we sinned, and in response, God has cursed man and creation. There is no power here on earth which can make straight what God has bent (cursed). Who then can make it straight again? God alone. It is not in our ability to redeem ourselves or this world. God alone can bring salvation.

How then do we live in light of a broken world? The next verse helps, “In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.” This world, though cursed and broken, also contains much good. Some days we experience ecstatic joy, other days we are left in the darkness of sorrow. This is how this world is between the fall and the second coming.

Joyful and sorrowful days exist so that we consider the character of God and our own sinfulness. The good days shows us God’s goodness and what this creation was meant to be and will be again one day. The days of sorrow show us the wickedness of sin and its cost to us. When we look at the fullness of death and evil it points us to God for we can do nothing to stop death. He alone can make straight again a world which is crooked. He alone can save and God started to do just that through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus.

So Where Do We Go From Here?

So what will I do this week? I will mourn the tragic loss of my friends. I will mourn the pain experienced by the friends and family of the Jamison, Kathryne, Ezra, Violet, and Calvin. I will cry out to God asking that he no longer tarry and that he may come to make this world straight again. This is a time to weep and mourn and to do so fully. It is a good and right response to the brokenness of such events to truly weep. Too often in Christian circles we do not know how to mourn, we do not want to look death in the face and see it for it is—a great evil and the final enemy to be overthrown. We are pressured to treat death as merely an inconvenience when it is something Christ himself deeply mourned (John 11.33-36).   

So I mourn the death of my friends but I do not mourn as one without hope. In my mourning I am comforted that my Savior, the Pals’ Savior, overcame death by death. The sting of death is removed through the resurrection of the indestructible life of Christ. How dear is Christ’s perfect work in these moments of mourning! His gospel is my comfort, and it is a great comfort.

Even in light of this great loss, I will praise God for he has taken this evil and brought about much good. The gospel is going to Japan—people have been mobilized through the suffering of the Pals to support missions to Japan and some are now going themselves to Japan. Through their tragic death, God is working even in the salvation of the truck driver who hit the Pals’ mini-van. God is still sovereign; he wins even over untimely deaths.

Later this week I will turn to rejoice with my wife. We will celebrate ten years of marriage and how God has blessed us in innumerable ways through it. It will be a time to laugh and dance even as we live in a crooked world. God has made both days, and we will respond accordingly in faith to them both

What You Can Do

If you have read this post I thank you. Often when we consider tragedies such as this, we want to know what we can do. I offer three things you can do in responses to the one year anniversary of the death of the Pals family:

1. Pray for the family and friends who are mourning the passing of the Pals family. Especially lift up the Pals and Engel families as this year has surely been difficult. Pray that God may comfort them and that his people may be an instrument of that comfort.
2. Pray for Japan. The Pals were set on bringing the gospel to Japan because it is one of the most spiritually dark places in the world. Pray that the gospel goes forward in power to Japan and that many may come to salvation through Jesus Christ.
3. Give to missions. Support the building of Christ’s Kingdom by actively supporting gospel-centered missionaries. There are many people like the Pals who need financial support to bring the good news around the world. This is the job of the church—to make disciples all around the world. Support missions in your church, in your denomination, and if you feel so led, consider donating to the Pals Family Foundation which will use your donation to bring the gospel to Japan.

Soli Deo Gloria-

Levi Secord

Devil in the Blue Jeans

We have an independent streak in our society. Being original is considered a virtue to be pursued. The term rebel is often used in a praiseworthy way of such individuality. The problem is most rebels today are not that original at all. This is especially true when it comes to theology. A person may think he is being a brave and rebellious hero by adopting liberal theological views (i.e. accepting homosexuality, denying the truthfulness of the Bible, promoting a Marxist idea of justice, etc), but the reality is such a person is  neither original, nor a hero. Such originality is really just doing and believing what the spirit of the age puts forward as true. This is not original, though it is rebellious against God and his word. 

In his work, The Great Evangelical Disaster, Francis Schaeffer wrote the following concerning rebels in the 1960s:

They were rebels. They knew they were, for they wore the rebel’s mark—the worn-out blue jeans. But they did not seem to notice that the blue jeans had become the mark of accommodation—that indeed, everyone was in blue jeans…It is so easy to be radical in the wearing of blue jeans when it fits in with the general climate of wearing blue jeans. 

In the sixties many thought they were rebelling or being original by wearing blue jeans but in reality they were all dressing the same. They thought they were being cutting-edge, but in reality the whole climate embraced the wearing of worn-out blue jeans. All they had done is accommodate the prevailing wind of the age which is really not very rebellious or original. 

Schaeffer went to apply this to theological liberalism and its spread within the church. Those who want to be rebels often do so by wearing the blue jeans of accepting the morality of secularism, but they end up just looking like the culture of the day. It is easy to wear those blue jeans when the world wants you to and when it praises you for doing so. It is easy to wear blue jeans when it fits in with the general climate of wearing blue jeans.

To be a true rebel, a rebel with a cause, Christians are called to be against the spirit of whatever age they find themselves in. For example, today it takes no bravery whatsoever to wave a rainbow flag in public. To do so, especially in the name of Christianity, will earn you praise for it is exactly what the climate of our age is. There is no courage required for such an act today, rather it is cowardice and accommodation.

But to proclaim  there is salvation in no one else besides Jesus Christ, and that to receive it you must repent of your sins (including homosexual behavior), that takes real bravery. Doing so will  make you an actual rebel in our age. All it takes to rebel against the prevailing wind of the current sexual revolution is to be faithful to scripture. 

I was faced with this dilemma recently when I was invited to preach at a chapel that our church regularly staffs. This chapel had  a new chaplain, and when I met him it was clear he and I were not on the same page. He proudly wore rainbow earrings and talked about how different perspectives and traditions are all just the same. When I arrived I had in my hand a prepared message that did not address the obvious problems with this man’s views. What should I do? 

I was faced with a choice. Accommodate the new chaplain’s blue jean mentality, or adjust my message on the fly to confront these lies. This was not an easy decision. No one wants to be that guy, not even me. The pressure to pretend we were on the same page was immense. 

So what did I do? I came to the conclusion I may be the only person who comes into this chapel and actually preaches the gospel to these people. So I adjusted my message on the fly to cover topics like sin, repentance, and how faith in Jesus is the only way to God, and the surety of God’s judgment for sin. I told the chaplain the Baptist perspective (which he had said was in essence the same as all the others) is that God’s Word is central, so I preached his word faithfully. 

It was obvious the chaplain did not care for my message. After the service we awkwardly parted ways. In that moment it was clear, one of us thought he was rebel, but only one of us was not accommodating the spirit of the age. I do not tell this story to paint myself as a hero, for I am not. I am more than likely a fool who could have done his job much better. This story though illustrates an important point. We can either seek to rebel against God through accommodating the spirit of the age or we can rebel against the spirit of the age. If we rebel against God, the world will praise us and God will judge us. If we rebel against the spirit of the age God will bless us and the world will hate us. The choice should be easy, but often it isn’t. 

This is a choice many of us will face in coming years. We can either put on the blue jeans of our age to fit in, or we can be faithful to the God of the Universe and in the process become rebels to our society. To choose cultural accommodation would be cowardice and faithlessness. To choose obedience to God will require bravery, grace, and faith. Like the faithful who have come before us, if we choose to fear God instead of man, we will not fit in, but we will be blessed by God for our obedience. But if we choose to put on the blue jeans of the day, we will find ourselves in a crowd,  who all look eerily similar, shaking our collective fists at God.