Faith For Exiles By David Kinnaman And Mark MatlockSample

Day Three: Practice 2—In a Complex and Anxious Age, Develop the Muscles of Cultural Discernment 

Scripture: I Corinthians 2:14, Philippians 1:9-10

Our friend Seth is a remarkable guy—an effective leader and just an all-around great human being. Seth recently relocated to a new job, and since we hadn’t caught up for almost a year, he took the time to recount how his kids were adapting to their new context. 

“We are doing pretty well as a family. We are settling into schools and life here, but my teen daughter has taken it hardest. In fact, I recently discovered that her phone’s search feed was filled with YouTube videos about ‘How do I know if I am depressed?’ and ‘How do I deal with anxiety?’ I asked her about it, and she said she had found a lot of videos on the issues she was facing.”

He paused, “I feel bad she didn’t talk to me first. It makes me realize how much mobile phones give our kids access to all sorts of ideas about life and how to live it.”

Young people are looking to their devices to make sense of the world around them. They use the screens in their pockets as their counselors, their entertainers, their instructors, and even their sex-educators, among many other digital-Sherpa roles. Why make the effort to talk to your parents or teachers when you can privately ask the smartphone in your hand?

The problem is the challenge of trying to find real, livable wisdom in an accelerated, complex culture. Instantaneous access to information does not equal wisdom. We describe digital Babylon as accelerated (life moves faster) and complex (life is uncertain and difficult to predict). The reaction of many people to these facts is a low-level anxiety that never really goes away and that occasionally ratchets up to high-level anxiety.

The evidence is quite clear: how a person thinks and believes makes a huge difference to their resilience. Digital Babylon exerts tremendous influence, but the profile of resilient disciples shows that forming patterns of discernment is one effective way of staying ahead of the curve.

Resilient disciples take part in robust learning communities; that is, they learn how to think in company with other Christians who are learning how to think. This leads to an important conclusion from the research: as exiles in digital Babylon, disciples need a richer, more resilient life of the mind. Exercising cultural discernment means taking part in a robust learning community under the authority of the Bible in order to wisely navigate an accelerated, complex culture.

In what ways are you cultivating a rich, inner-life? How are your habits influenced and shaped by your attitude of the culture-at-large?