Conquering Cancel Culture: ‘Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled’

Author
Andrew Wommack

Date posted: 09-28-2021

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Andrew Wommack is president of the Truth & Liberty Coalition. He and other influential Christian leaders formed the Truth & Liberty Coalition to make a difference in culture by speaking about moral issues and dealing with current events.

These days, it seems like some people want to argue over just about anything, especially politics and social issues.

We’re living in a time when civility is a nearly forgotten virtue, emotions are running wild, and people are getting ‘cancelled’ for just believing what God’s Word says about things.

Sad to say, it gets a lot of Christians off track from what God called them to do.

Jesus said persecution will come (Luke 21:12), but it doesn’t have to get on the inside of you and become a crisis. You just need to operate in peace—a supernatural peace.

‘Peace I Leave with You’

In John 14:27, Jesus tells His disciples how to prevent a crisis. He says, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Jesus was speaking to His disciples the night before His crucifixion. He knew what was coming and what would later happen to His disciples, yet He told them, “Let not your heart be troubled.”

Jesus was saying that peace ought to be the experience of truly born-again people who are walking in victory—who are responding to the Holy Spirit.

Peace is an indication of where you are with the Lord. If you have a lack of peace, if you are in turmoil, if you aren’t settled, and if you’re insecure, it makes quite a statement. It indicates you aren’t relying on the Lord the way you should. If you’re still defending and protecting yourself, you are not trusting in what Jesus has already done.

Stay in the Race

When I first got started in ministry, I remember trying to prove myself. If somebody disagreed with me, I would argue with them. I would argue at the drop of a hat—and I was usually the one who dropped the hat.

I had to prove that I was right, and I really thought I was doing people a service. I thought I was sharing the truth with them, but it was really about me needing to feel secure. When people said something that countered what I said, I had to win the argument to feel like I was right. If I couldn’t feel right, then it shook my faith in what I was believing.

During that time, my friend Joe Nay really blessed me. He said he saw me like I was running a race on a track. I was leading the pack, but there were people yelling at me from the grandstands. He said he saw me getting off the track and going into the stands to argue with the crowd. He told me, “You may win the argument, but you will lose the race.”

Be Secure in God’s Love

Over the years, I’ve just gotten to a place where I don’t have time to argue with people anymore. If they’re sincere and want an answer about something, then I’ll discuss things to help them. But I don’t have to get a person to come around to my point of view. I’m secure in what I believe, and I’m not going to argue with people. I have peace in my life.

The Lord gives us His peace. There is so much peace in knowing what God thinks of you—knowing what God has done in your heart. It doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks.

You don’t have to win every argument. You don’t have to prove to everybody that you’re right. Just find out what God says in His Word, and then do it—keep running your race (Heb. 12:1).

Avoid Cancel Culture

At the same time, there are people who will try to change everybody else’s opinion so that nobody will ever rub them the wrong way—so that nobody will ever say anything offensive or do anything to upset them. That’s cancel culture.

We live in a fallen world. There’s always going to be people who rub you the wrong way. People who try to get rid of all opposition so nobody will ever treat them wrong are going to be sadly disappointed. It’s just not going to happen.

There are different opinions about race; there are different opinions about whether you’re a man or a woman; there are different opinions about whether you’re a Christian or non-Christian. There are a million different things to get offended about, and you just can’t overcome offense by changing everybody else.

Don’t Let the Storm Inside

The Apostle Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12, “Don’t let any man despise you.” Paul didn’t go to the people in the church and say, “Now, don’t you despise Timothy.” He told Timothy, “You don’t let them despise you!”

It’s one thing to have a storm on the outside, but if you ever let the storm on the inside you’ll sink. A boat can make it through a hurricane as long as all the water stays on the outside. If you let problems, and what other people think about you, on the inside—if you start letting your heart be troubled by getting upset, hurt, and bitter—you’re going down.

What you can do is not let people despise you. You can be so secure in the Lord that if someone doesn’t like you, it’s their problem—not your problem. That’s really powerful.

I encourage you to learn more about letting “not your heart be troubled” by listening to my full teaching on John 14:27 from the Christian First-Aid Kit. You’ll be blessed!

Learn More

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