Elephants and Ants

For some reason, the Lord has me focused on discernment.

I’ve recently been journaling about judgment—maybe being too critical—about observation, and about integration. Just when I think I’m ready to move on, I’m faced with another opportunity to discern God’s Word in light of “cultural sensitivity.”

This is personal.

Multicultural counseling was the soul of my professional life. Even my doctoral dissertation focused on cultural sensitivity. That was the old me—the version of me who could spell “Jesus” and identify him as one of my graduate students… and not much more.

That season now feels like a blur.

Not erased but replaced with something based on truth.

The truth is, no matter how culturally sensitive I thought I was—a colleague once told me I “reeked of multiculturalism”—and no matter how aligned I was with the cultural Zeitgeist, without Jesus Christ, I was focused on the ants of life as the elephants ran over me. That was the truth.

And maybe that’s why I feel this conviction now.

When I hear contemporary pastors talk about “transformation” as if the Apostle Paul himself were preaching… sermons that leave me feeling good about doing good, about aligning with cultural causes, about being seen on the “right side”…I alert.

Is that the message?

Are we earning extra credit for how we pronounce “Jesus”? How culturally aligned do we sound?

Yes, this is critical. I recognize the voice.

It’s the same voice I used in university classrooms.

The difference is that it was a secular setting and a secular program.

This is the Church.

So what are we doing?

When messages minimize the larger truths—the “elephants”—and focus instead on the smaller, more culturally acceptable “ants,” the sheep are left unaware and unprepared to discern truth from error.

The metaphor holds.

We can spend all our time stepping carefully around the ants…
and still get trampled by the elephants.

Now I don’t claim to know the mind of God, but I can read His Word.

For me, the Holy Bible—all 66 books—reveals the Truth. Some truths are heavier than others. And sin is not an ant. Sin is a heavy elephant.

In my former profession, definitions shifted as culture shifted. What was once considered psychopathological could later be normalized.

Is that happening now within Christianity?

Are we redefining sin through a cultural lens… shrinking elephants into something smaller… something more acceptable?

That’s where discernment matters.

Because when I hear talk of transformation that quietly accommodates what God clearly addresses, something in me recognizes the disconnect.

My discernment meter activates. And yes, this feels raw. I can feel it as I write.

And I wonder…Does this align with the Fruit of the Spirit?
Is this conviction or a reaction? That’s part of my discernment, too.

I'm trying to identify the elephants and not focus on the ants.

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“Test all things; hold fast what is good.” 1 Thessalonians 5:21