People of every nation or creed live with certain established rules, expectations, and values. We would call it their “culture”. We are influenced by our culture more deeply than most of us realize it. Every organization has a culture, some of which is spoken and other parts are unspoken. Those who are part of the culture understand the spoken and unspoken expectations of that group. A company, nation, ethnic group, church, or families each have their own culture.
There are some great benefits to being part of a culture. It defines, to some degree, who we are. It establishes a set of guidelines that we can live with, so people don’t have to reinvent the wheel. If the cultural norms are good, it allows the next generation to build on what has already been established and continue a strong heritage. On the other hand, a culture can be a bubble that we live in. It may isolate us from others who are not part of our culture. It may give us blind spots as to impair us from seeing the weakness of our own culture.
The bubble of culture
When I first came to the U.S., I was 15 years old. Two days after my arrival I started as a junior in high school. My schooling back in Iran was intense, demanding, and focused. We didn’t have much free time for anything. Additionally, most schools were by gender, so we were not in contact with the opposite sex on a regular basis. This coupled with the fact that dating was not allowed kept life very simple. Every morning we would wear the same old school uniforms, carry lots of textbooks and notebooks and go about our lives. Working hard at school and making good friends (of the same sex) was all we had.
When I immigrated to the U.S. and started going to high school it was a culture shock! The kids had lockers in school, one for books and the other at the gym. When they told me that I had a locker, I was wondering what I would use a locker for. I needed all my books and all of them had to go home with me every day. Then I noticed that the other girls would lock up most of their books in the locker before they went home. Many of them had make up in their lockers that they used in between classes to ensure they refreshed their face in between periods. There was dating, hand holding, and kissing going on right before my eyes. In my culture, even married couples didn’t kiss each other in public. I had no idea that you went to school to do all that. Conversely, those girls would have probably been just as shocked if they had entered my world and had observed how we did life in high school back in Iran!! Each of us had lived in our own bubble and each group considered their way of doing things the norm and the right approach.
Our culture can keep one in infancy spiritually
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal? 1Corinthians 3:1-4
While the Corinthian church was gifted spiritually, they were still operating in carnality. Their carnality and the tradition of man had a look of spirituality though. They were proud of the fact that they were taught and impacted by Paul or Apollos, but in the process those blessings were causing division among them because of their carnal worldview. If Christ is the head then regardless of who has touched our lives in earthly form, should not cause a feeling of supremacy or lead to separation between brothers and sisters in Christ.
Whenever we bring a cultural value into our spiritual world, that will cause stifled spiritual development. Any value that exalts itself above Jesus, will hinder us from progress and can keep us in infancy and carnality.
What are the cultural values that you hold near and dear that are not necessarily of Christ? Are there values that you live by which are producing envy, strife, and division? Ask the Lord to show you.