Being Christian today requires individuals to be counter-cultural and go against society to follow the path of Jesus and God. Continuing along the path of Christianity can be difficult as many challenges and opportunities to sway from the path of God can come up during your life. Pope Francis said 'I ask you, instead, to be revolutionaries, I ask you to swim against the tide; yes, I am asking you to rebel against this culture that sees everything as temporary and that ultimately believes you are incapable of responsibility, that believes you are incapable of true love.' this quote shows us what we need to do as Christians today. Christians have to be counter-cultural when having patience, Humility and Hope.
Growing up in Christian life today can be hard because it might mean you have to be counter-cultural, to follow your faith. An example of this would be having patience instead of being rude and pushing in front of someone in a line. Having patience today is a counter-cultural practise because our society is so used to having fast-speed internet and easy access to a TV and movies that it becomes increasingly hard to wait for something. In the Bible, God said, “If we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (Romans 8:25 ), this is what we should do as Christians but we feel pressured by society and others to do the wrong thing. In the bible, all the Christians wait for Jesus to return after he was crucified. They used this quality of patience to wait quietly and peacefully for his return, however, everyone was just so used to being patient that they simply just did it, whereas today hardly anyone thinks to be patient. This demonstrates how Christians should be patient and to be that today we have to be counter-cultural.
Being counter-cultural is extremely hard to do, as you are going against what is considered normal. This can make you an outlier. Most people in our society strive to be the best, they want to be the greatest leader, have the most money and be the most Christian. But being Christian is not like that you have to have humility. According to the urban dictionary, humility is the quality of having a modest or low view of one's importance. We are constantly told to be fierce, bold, proud and unashamed of our beliefs and behaviours. But it’s easy to be rude and mean to others around us. We are rarely taught to be respectful to others and to listen, obediently learn, politely ask, apologize or admit we were ever wrong. Having humility requires us to have a brave and self-conscious attitude. In Proverbs 11:12 God said, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.” This demonstrates how God wants us to be humble through everything we do because with this we will be rewarded and blessed by him. Another example of this is in Matthew 6:5-6 Jesus says “ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” This is referring to how Jesus doesn't want us to show off, or try and be the best he wants us to still stay grateful and be humble towards others through the action that we do.
The ability to have hope is one of the hardest qualities to portray. Most people in our world today forget the importance of having hope and as Christians, it is our responsibility to be counter-cultural and turn away from this and demonstrate having hope and believing. After people have failed us, communities have hurt us, friends have betrayed us and governments have disappointed us it’s hard not to be annoyed and think that the world is ending. But for those people who portray the quality of hope inspired by Jesus, there becomes a sense of meaning toward life. So despite the chaos of the world-changing around us hope keeps us connected to God and our faith. This quote “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Romans 15:13 ), further demonstrates how God gives us faith to keep going, believe in ourselves and know that there is always something to look forward to. In Proverbs 10:28 God said “The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish” This quote shows the importance of having a positive belief about the future, that we should not dwell thinking about the bad that could happen but focusing on the good that could.
In conclusion, the ability to be counter-cultural can be hard but to be Christian we have to, as we know that is what Jesus and God want us to do. Having Patience, Humility and Hope all require us to be counter-cultural. As Pope Francis said, 'I ask you, instead, to be revolutionaries, I ask you to swim against the tide; yes, I am asking you to rebel against this culture that sees everything as temporary and that ultimately believes you are incapable of responsibility, that believes you are incapable of true love.'Shows us that going against society can be a good thing if we do it to follow our faith and God.