(Today’s devotional is longer than normal. I considered writing it in several installments, but I wanted to maintain the continuity of the message.)
Ephesians 5.13-15
“When anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.’ Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”
We are a bitterly divided nation. Every day American public life sinks further into chaos and conflict. The great American republic is in the midst of its gravest crisis since the Civil War, a crisis that threatens the greatness, freedom, and very character of our nation.
As with the Civil War—a time of terrible internal hostility—the deepest threat we face today is not a foreign invader, but conflict from within. The problem is not America against the world, or the world against America, but America against itself. Careless with their insults and reckless with their incitements, many Americans are seething with rage against other Americans.
America is locked in a mortal struggle for what each side believes is the soul of the nation. Indifferent to the consequences, the once-visionary leadership of the free world has staggered to a halt. Indeed, the suddenness of America’s decline is as shocking as it is tragic.
Radical, violent, and antidemocratic movements are being fomented and funded by ideologically-driven groups that seek to reshape America into what they think will be some kind of neo-Marxist utopia. These are the “woke” activists.
The angry woke activists have forged a mindset of grievance, resentment, and perpetual victimhood. They play a manipulative game of identity politics whereby they fixate on the “sins of the fathers” and assault the “structures of domination” in an attempt to convince minority groups that they are being intentionally oppressed and marginalized by the ruling white patriarchy.
Promoted by academia, protected by the media, and enabled by social platforms, the woke activists believe it is their moral obligation to expose the oppressors, dismantle the existing system, liberate the oppressed, and regulate thought and speech. Thus, they are empowered to attack, denounce, and cancel anyone who fails to think or speak in alignment with their ideology.
If this sounds authoritarian and feels like tyranny, it’s because it is. The woke left is intolerant and despotic. As it turns out, they don’t actually want freedom and fairness. They want power. They are tyrants who want control, and who seek to crush dissent.
Needless to say, woke activists haven’t solved any problems; instead, they have stoked them. Rather than remedying the evils and reconciling people and communities, the woke crowd seeks to resurrect and refight the battles of the past, which only serves to extend the wounds and pain to the present generation. They are doing so in a way that poisons American life and American politics from top to bottom.
Woke race theory, in particular, has significantly expanded its influence in the United States, doing a great deal of harm. It has stirred up anger, spread division, and contributed to a worsening, not an improvement, in race relations.
But now there are political leaders in Europe who are warning of the danger of the woke movement in America. Emmanuel Macron, of all people, has declared woke-ism in America an “existential threat” to Europe and the world. Ironic, isn’t it? Macron is the president of France, the birthplace of postmodernism.
Here is an excerpt from a recent article in the New York Post:
“It’s an American export that prudent Europeans want to keep out. They’ve paid close attention to the product’s development in the United States, and they’ve determined that it’s toxic. They’re afraid it will damage their kids, undermine their society and threaten civilization.
No, it’s not genetically modified food or Velveeta or McDonald’s. It’s “woke” American scholarship on race. And frankly, the Euro-critics have a point.
French President Emmanuel Macron and his ministers view the threat as existential. As the New York Times reported, they think woke-ism “fuels secessionism. Gnaws at national unity. Abets Islamism. Attacks France’s intellectual and cultural heritage.”
Academics disagree, of course. But that’s no more a surprise than seeing manufacturers of synthetic cheese stand up in defense of Velveeta.”
The woke phenomenon in America is as much psychological as it is social and political. For gangs of woke students—and Twitter mobs seeking to cancel anyone who disagrees with their ideology and tactics—the constant labeling and denouncing of people as “racist” or “homophobe” or “Nazi” can produce a feeling of enormous power and self-importance. This makes it very seductive for those caught in the trap of a post-truth worldview.
But seduction inevitably leads to destruction. Solomon gave this warning: “For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.” (Proverbs 5.3-4)
The seductress speaks with sweetness, but what she actually brings is poison, and it will eventually lead to death. The woke ideology works precisely this way. To the naive and gullible, woke race theory is at first appealing, attractive, and gives a feeling of moral superiority. But in reality it distorts, and in the end it destroys. Seduction ultimately leads to destruction.
By its fruit the tree is known, and the fruit of woke leftism in the United States has been poisonous. No honest observer can claim that our campuses are healthier, our cities safer, our public discourse more robust, or our institutions more productive as a result of the insidious and pervasive influence of woke activism.
I close with the same verse quoted at the top. As Paul says in this passage, the followers of Jesus should be the most “woke” people in the world. Be awake, walk in wisdom, and allow the light of Christ to shine in you and through you. Stand firm against any form of bias or prejudice, whether individual or institutional. And stand firm against the censorious attacks of the woke crowd.
“When anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.’ Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5.13-15)
