"But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:1).
Modern culture is not a friend to followers of Jesus Christ.
And so, we must learn to live in a world that’s opposed to our beliefs, values, and lifestyles without being overcome by it. That’s what happened to the church in Corinth. They compromised with the culture around them and couldn’t receive Paul’s message to them as spiritually mature believers, because they were still like infants in Christ (1 Cor. 3:1). The same thing can happen to us today. Some believers are committed to Christ and growing in spiritual maturity, dependent on the Holy Spirit, obedient, and trusting in the Lord. But there are others who are carnal and immature because they’ve compromised with the culture and adopted its ideas, values, and practices.
Holding fast to God’s faithful Word is the key to living in this world without becoming conformed to it. Ours is a secular culture dominated by materialism, immorality, sensuality, and perversions of every stripe. People live in open defiance of God’s law, believing they can do whatever they please without any consequences.
The danger that we face as believers is the subtle influence of the culture. It seeps into our minds through the internet, media, and entertainment doing its damage in our lives, families, and churches with its corrupting philosophies, ideas, and values. The only way to combat this is to cling to God’s Word and let it influence us more than anything else. The Eternal Word of God is our anchor in a corrupt culture, and staying full of the Holy Spirit is our daily Power Source.
