By Graham Glover –

It’s time to take a deep breath dear Christian friends. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Seriously, everything is going to be ok. And if it’s not, if the world in which we live is hell bent on moral destruction, oh well, it doesn’t really matter, because in the grand scheme of things, the Church’s purpose has never been primarily about changing behavior.

We Christians have been called to proclaim Christ and Him crucified. We have been sent to deliver the promise of forgiveness and everlasting life to a world that has, is, and always will be infected with sin. Gross, vile, repugnant sin.

Ours is not a moral crusade. Our faith is not contingent upon how righteous we make the society in which we live.

So calm down and relax. Christ is still risen from the dead! Death has still been defeated! And the eternal joy of the empty tomb is still ours!

I know it can seem like the sky is falling – that our culture is changing in ways we never imagined. Every day seems to bring a new societal norm or alter what we once thought was unchangeable. Philosophical standards are being replaced by ones that are incomprehensible to sound reason. Laws increasingly condone behavior that the Church teaches is reprehensible. But these things are not new. Cultures are always changing. Societal norms are always being altered. Philosophical standards are always evolving. Laws have always condoned sin.

This is the way of the world. This is what sin does.

But even though we live in the world, we are not of the world. Even though we are surrounded by sin, we are not defined by it. We are a new creation, forever changed because of the Lord. He changed things. He changed the world. He changed us. This is message of our faith. It is what gives us hope amidst a sea of ever changing morality.

This isn’t to say we should ignore things. We should call a sin a sin. No matter the consequences.

Yet if we want to change things – that is, if we seek to slow the tide of moral decay, then we must remember that only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can do this. Only He can change lives. Only the freedom that we have in Him can truly alter our sinful actions. New or better laws won’t do this. Preaching the Law won’t do it. Rhetorical calls to take our country back, to make it great again, do nothing to affect the change so many desperately seek.

Only Jesus changes things. Jesus and Him alone. Not the law (of man or of God). Not an age-old philosophy. Not a time-test societal norm. Only Jesus. The crucified, risen Christ. The One who changed the world. The One who changed us. The One who can change everything.