God’s Cancel Culture
Do you fear what men can do to you? After all, we now live in a cancel culture where some people burden themselves, by sitting in the judgment seat of others, validating or invalidating them. If we trust God’s Word, we know there is no new thing under the sun (Eccl 1:9). In days gone by people were blacklisted, excommunicated, and exiled. Today, people are defriended or denigrated all day long on social media.
Cancellation is common. Babies have been cancelled in their mothers’ wombs by the tens of millions. Illegals are cancelled by deportation. Politicians are cancelled in subsequent elections. Survival of the fittest is what the scientists used to call it. Winston Churchill would tell you to “never, never, never give up.” Whether you succumb to being cancelled or fight it, the truth is that it is all vanity and chasing after the wind.
Seriously? So what if Joe Biden cancelled The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss? His funding infanticide around the world with your money is far more noteworthy. Joe must have forgotten what the “Palmist” said about people like him. Joe is on the verge of being cancelled for eternity and that has apparently never crossed his mind. If it did, he would surely repent. Does your being cancelled for eternity ever cross your mind?
If you do not belong to Jesus Christ (Jn 10:26; 1 Cor 3:23), you too, will soon be cancelled. I am not famous, nor an influencer and thus, I have no fear of being cancelled by the culture. The fear instilled in me a long time ago was the fear of God (Eccl 12:13). To be cancelled by God is the most fearful contemplation imaginable.
Knowing one’s true identity is essential to surviving these competing cancellation narratives. What is more important, being cancelled by other criminal sinners or being cancelled by the just Judge of heaven and earth (Gen 18:25)? A few famous people and their famous works may be burned up in the fury of another’s envious outrage. Contrast that with the multitudes hurtling toward cancellation for eternity.
To ensure you will be cancelled for eternity, you must be sure to live for this world (Jas 4:4). You must strive for your best life now at the risk of being ostracized by the minions of the ruler of this world. Maybe we should reason together.
What is your life? It is but a vapor (Jas 4:14). It is a life of futility (Eccl 1:2), lived in a fallen world of sin. Everything is forgotten. Everyone is forgotten. Why would you concern yourself with being cancelled when everyone and everything else is cancelled in this world?
The only way to be salvaged from a culture of cancellation is to come to the only relevant person who ever lived. Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, who was enfleshed as the Son of Man (Jn 1:14), in order to remove the curse of cancellation. He does this by giving eternal life to those who place their trust in Him (Jn 10:28; 17:2; 1 Jn 5:11, 20).
The most obvious reality besides birth is death. A person is here and then they are gone. Famous people make the news when they die, even when they have a near death experience. They may have entertained you or fueled inflation at the gas pump with stupid decisions, but most famous people have no impact on your life when they head to the great white throne of judgment (Rev 20:11).
Your eternal reality is intimately twinned with only one person…Jesus Christ. Your vibrant relationship or estrangement from Him dictates your forever future. Do you really know Him? More important, does He know you? If you hesitated with either of those questions, you may wish to examine your relationship. Jesus either cancels one’s debt of sin in this life (Col 2:14), or He cancels sinners in the reality to come (Mt 25:41, 46; Jude 7; Rev 19:11–21).
Jesus was despised and rejected of men (Is 53:3). He pressed on with His mission, anyway. Jesus’ mission was to save His people from their sins (Mt 1:21). He accomplished His work by living without sin (Heb 4:15), suffering death by crucifixion, being buried in a tomb, rising from the dead, ascending into heaven, being enthroned as King and Judge over all.
King Jesus, the Lord of all (Acts 10:36), is coming again on the last day to judge the living and the dead (2 Tim 4:1; 1 Pet 4:5). His kingdom will cancel the kingdom of this world, along with Satan, the ruler of this world. On that day, before His glorious throne, there will be a visible separation. Those who will be resurrected to life will be placed on Jesus’ right hand, and those who will be resurrected to judgment will be on His left (Mt 25:31–33).
The ultimate day of cancellation will be that day for those who did not believe in Jesus (Jn 10:26) because they did not belong to Him (Jn 8:47). They have been cancelled for having no love of God in their hearts (Jn 5:42), nor was God’s Word found in them (Mt 13:19).
Friend, do not concern yourself with the approval of men. That leads to nothing, except possibly being cancelled in their opinions. Rather, concern yourself with being approved by God, for He is the One who judges and cancels men for eternity.
David Norczyk
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
March 3, 2021
