Secular ≠ Bad
Last week, I was privileged to be in the same space with some teenagers who were having a discussion on how Christian teenagers should behave on social media, especially when people are set out to trigger them because of their beliefs. It was an open discussion, one where everyone was allowed to contribute and share their thoughts. And things went on fine — with a few errors here and there which the moderators had to address — until they brought up a question about social media and content creation.
The question, if I remember correctly, was something along the lines of, should Christians create secular content? and before we could blink, all kinds of takes started flying around. At first, I was amused, then I was concerned. I wondered if, beyond that space, other teenagers were growing up with the mindset that secular things are automatically ungodly.
Secular is anything that doesn’t pertain to religion. For example, your workplace, your car, your toothbrush. These are secular things.
I’ve realized over time — while speaking to many Christians — that we’ve grown to believe that secular is directly equal to ungodly. Secular has so lost its original definition in our minds that if you asked a random Christian child in Lagos today what secular music looks like, they’d probably play you Good Sin.
Good Sin is both secular and ungodly, but there are thousands of other songs by secular artistes that make sense and do not promote any form of ungodliness. There are clean love songs, songs about social justice, songs about navigating adulthood, and things like that.
These songs might be secular, but very helpful. Why? Because like I said the last time, we are spirits, but we’re still living in a body. We can’t say we won’t listen to anything other than gospel music because we’re Christians. If that were the case, what then would Christian couples sing to each other when they get to that stage? Abi una wan make dem dey sing YHWH to themselves?
I know that God gives everybody different consecrations, so if God is calling you to that life, great! But that doesn’t mean that it is the normal thing that God expects from every Christian.
And that’s one of my many major challenges with Christians. We like to take what God has commanded us to do in secret and use it as a yardstick to judge what is good and evil. That God put restrictions on you because of your specific needs doesn’t mean that we all get to bear the brunt. But that’s by the way; a full-blown topic for another day.
I need Christians to understand that if we only did “Christian things” we would all be jobless or into suit-wearing, full-time ministry. Why? Because our jobs are indeed secular.
I work for a merchandising company, and although a good number of us are Christians, the business is not a “Christian business,” it’s just a business. When I get to work, we don’t start the day with prayers and bible study, we go straight into work.
I can’t be preaching at my workplace when I’m supposed to be working, and I can’t be praying either. Yes, I can listen to a sermon or mutter prayers while I work, but I can’t neglect my job because I’m doing spiritual things. If I do that, God will have to call me to order because that’s fraudulent behavior, and God takes no part in things like that.
Social media in and of itself is secular. When you open these apps, the UI doesn’t say “Calvary greetings, beloved brethren,” it tells you to bare out your mind or watch some cool stuff so that they too can make their daily bread.
If all secular things were bad, then we shouldn’t be on social media or at amusement parks. We shouldn’t even go to the beach, vote, or be involved in social justice. We should all just sit at home praying and singing worship.
Now, to the topic of content creation.
There’s this bad behavior we’ve learned in church where we’ve grown to believe that we must bring God into everything.
We say things like, “Your content must point back to God” or “People should know you’re a Christian simply by looking at the kind of content you make” or “You can create any kind of content, but just find a way to put God in it.”
This behavior is why you can look at someone who makes secular, but clean content and think you’re a better Christian than them because you “bring God into everything you’re doing” and they don’t.
The thing is, I understand the rationale, even though I think it’s borne from a misunderstanding of Proverbs 3:6. However, I also know that it’s shortsighted to think that the only way you can acknowledge God in your ways is by talking about him in every 30 second video you make. That’s ridiculous.
I can acknowledge God by letting people know that He’s the one who brought me this far, I can acknowledge God by asking for his guidance in whatever I’m doing, and I can acknowledge God by asking Him to take control of the things I put out. Acknowledgment is not a one-way street. There is no template for it.
Also, acknowledgement doesn’t have to be a public thing. You can acknowledge God in everything you do without mentioning him in your content, your song, or your book. Acknowledgment is more of a big-picture thing than we like to admit.
One of my favorite creators is a Christian through and through — as far as I know — but he doesn’t create Christian content. He hardly ever mentions God in his content, but everyone knows where he stands.
One thing we don’t like to admit is that we are all called to be light, but we will all shine differently. If God calls you to create Christian content, go on ahead and create Christian content. But if God calls you to something secular like entertainment, my guy, carry it on your head and give it the same diligence you would Christian content or full-blown offline ministry.
We need to understand that we serve a God that sees our hearts and knows where we stand even when we’re trying to bobo the world. So we can sprinkle God on everything and act like we know what we’re talking about, when in fact, we’re just being mindlessly religious.
And if we don’t take time, we’ll be raising a whole generation of self-righteous unbelievers who just sprinkle Jesus on everything because it makes them feel Christian.
Imagine you’re in a relationship with someone and you’re trying so hard to let people know that you’re with that person. That’s more weird than cute. Normally, they can come up in your conversations from time to time, and people will know you’re with them. But you don’t have to strategically put them in every conversation like they’ll beat you if you don’t.
And if they don’t come up for a long time, it doesn’t mean that your relationship isn’t solid or that you’re not a good partner. It just means that there hasn’t been reason for them to come up.
In the same way, you don’t have to force God into every single thing you do. I understand the idea of wanting your life to revolve around Christ and wanting to shine as light, but as I said, there’s no one-way ticket to achieving that.
We will all have to go before God and seek his will for our lives as individuals because, as Ebele would say, God will judge us according to what he sent us to do. Our paths are different, just as we are, therefore, we will be judged differently.
The Bible says that we should shine our light. That can only happen in the midst of great darkness because you can be in the midst of light and think you’re shining brightly until you step out of your comfort zone.
And this “stepping out” will look different for each.
Some of us will go into social media, others into entertainment, others into social justice, and others into the missions field. But you should in no way think that the one that goes into the missions field is better than the one that went into entertainment. The job description is different, but the struggle is real, as long as you’re standing for God.
Remember, we are a body, and each part has its own purpose. So, don’t leave your purpose to chase after someone else’s because it feels more Christian than what God has called you to do.
Also, we shouldn’t be quick to judge people whose paths look different from ours. You will be tempted to think you’re serving God better than your brother, but in reality, you’re all just solving a part of the same puzzle.
And if you think they’re veering towards the wrong path by any indication, pray for them and speak to them if they’re people you have influence over.
Dragging people who look different from us and do things we’re uncomfortable with — because of our conservative backgrounds — will not help anybody. Instead of fussing over people and monitoring their lives like Pharisees, we can be more intentional about praying for them.
Finally, I think we also need to trash this “give me Jesus and take the world” mindset. Yes, we shouldn’t run after material things or positions of power, but if God gives those things to us, then He has good reason for it.
At the end of the day, you cannot be more righteous than God.
I want us to understand that “being in this world and not of it” is more of a boundary than a restriction. Yes, we shouldn’t behave like the world and chase after the things they do, but that doesn’t mean that we cannot have passion and ambition. We just need to be sure our hearts are in the right place.
I think I’ve said a lot , so to wrap this thing up, I’ll leave you with one of my favorite scriptures.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. [Philippians 4:8] [ESV]
So yeah, think on these things. 🫡
