Live No LiesSample

LIVING IN BABYLON

I believe the world, the flesh, and the devil are alive and well, and aided by our skepticism, they are wreaking havoc in our souls and society.

Our war against the three enemies of the soul is not a war of guns and bombs. It’s not against other people at all. It’s a war on lies. And the problem is less that we tell lies and more that we live them. 

Most people today want nothing to do with faith in the public square. The church is seen as part of the problem, not the solution as it used to be. What’s more, with the radical moral reversal around human sexuality, gender, and the life of the unborn, we now have the moral low ground in many people’s eyes. 

We live under a kind of cultural and socio-emotional persecution. It’s exhausting. The stigma. The slander. The wound to our hearts. 

The literary motif used by the writers of scripture for this kind of cultural experience is that of exile. 

The apostle Peter opens his New Testament letter with “To God’s elect, exiles scattered . . .” and ends with “She who is Babylon . . . sends you her greetings.” (See 1 Peter 1:1 and 5:13.)

In a pre-digital world, to experience the cognitive dissonance of exile, you had to attend a far-left university or live in the urban core of a secular city like Portland or LA. Now all you need is an iPhone and Wi-Fi. 

Babylon is not an easy place to live. We feel a dislocation and disequilibrium. 

Every day can feel like war on our souls—a spiritual assault on our faith—a fight to stay orthodox, to stay faithful to Jesus, much less to stay happy and at peace. 

When you’re a cognitive minority under constant pressure to assimilate, you can’t help but think: "Am I crazy to believe what I believe? To live how I live?" 

But what if exile could be good for us? 

What if exile is something to fight but not to fear?

What if instead of coming apart, we came together?

What if instead of losing our souls in Babylon, we discovered them? 

When do you feel the most pressure to assimilate in the Babylon of today’s culture? How might living in Babylon strengthen rather than weaken your faith?