Oppressive conditions like educational inequality, sexual harassment, and salary disparity bring anger, bitterness, as well as practical challenges. Can you imagine the hurdles that many women in the workforce face? Having to prove worth is mentally and emotionally exhausting.
Some of the emotion we see on social media comes people who easily identify with the frustration that this oppression brings. The single mom contends for a pay raise. A minority male applies for a promotion. A rural teen competes against prep school peers for an internship at a law firm. A maze of complex social structures makes it almost impossible to escape an unfavorable environment or condition. What can one person do in the face of an entrenched system? The feeling of being trapped is infuriating.
The need to escape life-destroying mechanisms affects more than those in the workforce or those trapped by poverty or economic disadvantage. It affects families, communities and whole nations. Bitterness brews in anyone who is held captive by their surroundings, the nets of the wicked (Psalm 141:10), or the opinions of others.
The solution is to recognize and take ownership of personal destiny and unhealthy groupthink.
Any system, mandate, curriculum, or culture where destructive ideas become normalized will awaken those whose hearts are wired to tear down anything that contradicts individual prosperity. Heroes and heroines like George Washington Carver and Harriet Tubman sparked change in their spheres and prompted others to oppose systemic entrapments. “Awakened” people prompt the defying of what has become acceptable but is as destructive as a wolf dressed as a lamb. What remains hidden retains the power to destroy. These countercultural men and women challenge the benefits of what has been or is becoming the status quo.
What remains hidden retains the power to destroy.
These awakened ones contend. This battle occurs in many families and communities and the brushfires are stoked by sinful and demon-inspired mindsets. These culture changers are not angels, but they welcome the help of the good ones! The objective is divine: destroy strongholds and shift systems to bring freedom, vitality and to respect autonomy.
To their chagrin, these courageous souls are often alienated and ignored. Introducing better ways of thinking or living to an entrenched and often maintained culture is not easy.
God shine Your light. Awaken us and may we humbly confess our part in maintains broken systems, hidden traps and destructive ideas.
Next Mentoring Series This Fall:
“CHANGING THE TIDE”
Learn how to guide your children and teens toward a scripture-centered worldview. Discover how to impart Biblical truth and Christ’s love to your neighbors and localities.