Individualism – The Nexus

Morning Musing: Romans 12:2

September 10, 2025September 10, 2025Leave a comment

“Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Our culture professes to value individualism. We see this in all sorts of advertisements. We are constantly told that our buying this or that product will help us stand out from the pack as different. We are told to embrace our individualism and not be like everyone else. The truth, though, is that our culture only tolerates free expression within a pretty tight worldview range. You can do whatever you want as long as it comes out of and expresses a single set of worldview beliefs. Deviate from that, and there’s going to be trouble. The Gospel, though, is different. And if we are going to embrace it, we’re going to have to be different. Really different. Let’s talk about it.

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Digging in Deeper: Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

August 20, 2021August 20, 2021Leave a comment

“Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the things that has always made Americans different from the rest of the world is our fierce spirit of individualism. This has long been one of the identifying hallmarks of our culture, and in our own myths and mythologies, one of the virtues we celebrate above all others. Just think through our most popular heroes and the stories we tell about them. They all include some element of someone going on a long journey or overcoming some great challenge all on their own. While nearly the entire rest of the world is much more community-minded, we try and do things by ourselves. A Netflix show we have been watching now for three seasons puts this on display while at the same time offering a reminder that doing life alone isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. Let’s talk this morning about the hit series, Virgin River.

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Morning Musing: 1 Corinthians 4:3-4

May 25, 2018May 22, 2018Leave a comment

“But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.” (ESV – Read the chapter)

“You can’t judge me!” may be one of the premier slogans of modern, western culture. A hundred years ago, what the people around you thought mattered a great deal. In many cultures around the world today this is still the case. An individual’s identity comes primarily from their social structure. In modern American culture, we are taught to place a high value on choosing a path that explicitly rejects and even makes a mockery of the social order in which we live. The bravest souls are the ones who take what’s expected of them and throw it in the trash to be “true to themselves” just like everybody else…
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