ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 Pulelulu Fepueli 25, 2026

NUMBERS 33-34; 1 John 2:15-17

There is always a danger that the surrounding culture will weaken your trust in and daily submission to your Savior.

‘Oku fakatu’utamaki ma’u pe ‘a e ‘ulungaanga fakafonua ‘a e ‘atakai ke ne fakavaivai’i ‘a ho’o falala mo ho’o tukulolo faka’aho ki ho Fakamo’ui.

Most believers in Jesus Christ now deal with the pervasive influence of social media, a catalog of streaming services, and the twenty-four-hour infotainment cycle. We are constantly under the influence of voices that do not speak from a biblical perspective and have rejected the confrontation and comfort of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's naive to think that, while our lives are dominated by a flood of constant noise, we are unchanged by them. I am convinced that the enemy of our souls will gladly give us our formal theology and our regular worship services, if he can control the thoughts and desires of our hearts at street level. Many of us can't be quiet for thirty seconds before pulling out our phones. Many of us reach for a digital device as soon as we wake up and check in with that device just before we go to bed. Are we aware that we have been changed, and are we grappling with the nature of that change?

What is culture? Here's my best answer. Human beings made in the image of God interact with God's world, and culture is what results. God's people have always lived in the midst of culture and its influence. So it makes sense that, as Israel enters the promised land, God gives them this stern but loving warning: "If you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell" (Num. 33:55). These are the words of a jealous God who is unwilling to surrender to other gods the hearts of those he has set his love on and whom he has guided, protected, and provided for. He knows that his children have wandering hearts. They have demonstrated that they often have more allegiance to their own comfort than to his will. In light of the magnitude of God's love for them, they have at times been disloyal, even willing to question God's wisdom, faithfulness, and love.

All this means that, no matter how faithful God's people are in honoring the sacrificial and holy-day systems that God has laid out for them, their hearts are susceptible to wandering away from God and his plan for them. So God warns them against the danger of not driving out these pagan nations, of settling among them, of progressively assimilating their culture, and ultimately of serving their gods.

Although we are in a very different place than the children of Israel, this warning rings true for us today. We need Jesus's protecting grace so we can continue to seek and celebrate that very same grace, even though the story of this grace is seldom reinforced by the culture we live in. The warning in Numbers is repeated near the end of the biblical story: "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15).