Why do we expect non-Christians to behave as if they were?

The world's gone mad!

• Unruly youth
• Binge-drinking
• Drug addictions
• Corruption in high places
• Increasing divorce rates
• Growing sexual perversions
• Addiction to pornography
• Rioting in the streets
• Violence

... and that's not the half of it.

How we long for those former days - quieter, more genteel, better mannered, more Christian! Why don't people behave like that nowadays? What has become of our Christian nation?

Oops! There's a lie of the devil in there somewhere. Just because (in our rose-scented memories) life was 'nicer' in the past, don't confuse that with Christianity, and don't confuse civilisation with sanctification. Whatever being 'civilised' means, it is not the same as being Christian. Civilised people just have more polite ways of expressing their sinful nature...

In fact, the Bible makes clear that such behaviour is not a new problem at all. Written in the 1st century AD, Paul says: "The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like." (Galatians 5 v19-21)

Non-Christians are free to get on with doing things in whatever way they like. That, after all, is the definition of a non-Christian: they have chosen to do things their own way - not Christ's way.

Let's stop the pretence that we live in a Christian nation - we don't! Let us praise the Lord that as the world gets darker, Christians will stand out as more distinctive, with our counter-cultural Christ-centred ways. It's only in the dark that a light shines. Again, it is the Bible that says it well: "Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." (Matt 5 v16).

So, instead of moaning about the signs of the times, maybe we will get on with the job of rescuing people from the clutches of the devil, through the power of Jesus who gives new life. This isn't about simply expecting people to conform to certain behavioural norms of decency - which isn't Christianity anyway.

By the way, there are still decent young people, couples who are faithful in their marriages, men and women who are honest, etc. And these are people who need the saving love of Jesus no less than the others.

In case you thought you were not part of the darkness all around, the Bible makes clear that each of us is sinful. It is God, by his grace, who has shone his light into our hearts. "For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ." (2 Cor 4 v6)

So we are not to condemn or look down on anyone, however unpleasant and evil they may seem; they are merely displaying our own true nature more clearly. Alexander Solzhenitsyn put it well: "The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being."

And for those of a nervous disposition, whatever is happening in society, there is no need to fear that Christ's light will be extinguished. Speaking of Jesus, the gospel writer John says, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it". (John 1 v5). Nor will it ever.