Piper on strutting evangelicals

Sometimes I'm amazed, and not in a good way, at the unChristlike things "Christian" politicians say, or the things believers circulate via email or post on Facebook. Here's a great reminder from John Piper on the attitude we should have when engaging with hot-button political and cultural issues. I was listening to this in the car this morning and saying "Preach it, brother!"

"[Pilgrims] do not smirk at the misery or the merrymaking of immoral culture. We weep. Know any good conservative talk show hosts that weep? Name one. Being pilgrims does not mean being cynical. That's the name of the game. The salt of the earth does not mock rotting meat. It tries to preserve, savour, and when it can't it weeps. Being Christian pilgrims in American culture does not end our influence, it takes the swagger out of it. There's so many strutting conservatives, including our president. And strutting Democrats. Can say no wrong. Can make no mistakes. I've got all the answers. Strut, strut, strut! That is not the demeanor of an evangelical pilgrim, who knows he's fallen, knows he's broken. It is possible to lead in strength with humility, a sense of brokenness, a sense of fallibility. We don't get cranky when evil triumphs. We don't whine when things don't go the way we want them to in our culture. It isn't our culture! Heaven is our culture! We're not hardened with anger. We understand what's happening now. Why? Because we saw it happen two thousand years ago."

Discerning the Will of God Concerning Homosexuality and Marriage (August 8, 2004)