In a now famous 2005 commencement speech, David Foster Wallace told a story of two young fish. He said, “There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes “What the [heck] is water?”
This is water. We are in it. The culture we inhabit is the water we live in unaware. We need the epiphany of something outside of ourselves to awaken our senses to the water we are swimming in.
In Ephesians chapter 5, Paul calls Christians to an alertness to the environment they find themselves inside of. "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord."
"This is why it is said: 'Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.' Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is."
The culture we live in is like the rushing current of a class six rapids. The cultural pull never takes a vacation. It is an ever-present, always moving momentum. Normal is only accepted until there is a "new normal." The goal posts move and the games rules change in the name of "progress." If I am not at present working against the current - paddle in hand - the tide will inevitably move me right along with everyone else to be dash upon the cliffs.
So Paul begs, "Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise." There is the need for us to be perpetually aware of the situations and circumstances we find ourselves in. There is a call to measure our lives, not against the crowd, but by the one standard that does not move like shifting like sand. The LORD has given us everything we need for faith and godliness - and every good work - in his God-breathed instruction.
Paul explains the way this wisdom is manifested by "making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." The pull of the current of culture is not a morally neutral force. Paul says it is evil. The tide is not moving toward progress, but regress. The devolving state of sinful man looks for, and even invents, new ways of thwarting the will of God. Humanity's rebellion is a strong current; more powerful than we perceive or imagine.
Understanding that the current is not going to stop, and the rush is more powerful than we think, believers need to be a counter-cultural community of faith. A community that loves each other in a manner that would draw everyone into God whose love pours through us. We must be ready to give an answer for the hope we have, a confidence that everything we need is provided in Jesus. And this requires a realization that this world is not our home.
“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” ~ C. S. Lewis
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