We Christians can be critical of culture; I include myself in this statement.  It is actually quite easy to be critical of culture since culture involves so many questionable things; especially present day culture.  We would be making a mistake if we just wrote it all off however, for there is no reason whatsoever that God cannot be glorified right in the midst of the culture of man!

I often listen to Public Radio.  The reason that I do is that I enjoy classical music.  It’s kind of fun listening to the announcers on politically correct public radio stations introducing classical music pieces that announce in music the grandeur of Jesus Christ, for in case you don’t listen to it, a very high percentage of classical music, especially Baroque and earlier was written as music of praise for worship.

Everyone knows about the great cathedrals of Europe.  They are monuments built to glorify God!  It is easy to criticize them for being monuments to man, I suppose.  It is also true that their construction involved a great deal of political shenanigans, and that they were built in times that were spiritually troubled.  Yet, consider: Most people today don’t know much about the spiritual problems of 500 years ago.  In fact most people today hardly know there ever was a “500 years ago”.  But everyone knows about those cathedrals that even now are architectural testimonies to faith and our great God.

Today, we may worship differently than our ancestors did.  We may worship differently than they do at the church across the street, but all Christians can give glory to God!  Why can’t we look at what previous generations of Christians have done to glorify God in culture, whether it was in a big way or in a small way, and ask ourselves what we can do to reclaim our culture for Jesus Christ?

Can we give Him glory in art?  Can we give Him glory in literature?  Can we give Him glory in architecture or sculpture or theater or in dancing?  I think we can!

Culture doesn’t have to go against God; it only does because we have surrendered it to those who would mock Him.

I agree that spending hundreds of millions to build a cathedral probably isn’t the best stewardship, but how much does it cost to write a play, a book, a poem, a song, a symphony or paint a picture?  If all of the Christians who have such abilities applied themselves, could we really shake up our culture for Christ?

Yes.

We haven’t gotten very far just complaining have we?