A few years back, I caught myself doing something embarrassing.
I was scrolling through my phone, came across a news story, and felt that little bolt of contempt — “of course they would say that.” I felt smart. I felt right. I felt like I was on the side of truth.
Then a thought hit me sideways: I hadn’t actually read the article. I hadn’t examined the claim. I hadn’t asked whether what was being said was true. I had just noticed which team was making the argument and reacted accordingly. My “conviction” wasn’t conviction at all.
It was reflex.
I tell you that story because I don’t think I’m the only one. I think most of us — left and right, conservative and progressive, red-state and blue-state — have replaced rooted Christian conviction with reactive tribal reflex. And the scary part is most of us don’t even know we’ve done it.
We think we’re standing for truth. We’re really just standing against whoever the algorithm told us to be against this week.
A reactive Christian’s discipleship has been outsourced to their enemies.
Last week I introduced this series and made the case that Jesus refused the jersey. He wouldn’t be conscripted into anyone’s culture war. Today I want to talk about the first marker of Christians who follow him into that same refusal: rootedness over reactivity.
Psalm 1 already said it
The very first psalm in the Bible — the one that opens the entire songbook of Israel — gives us the picture:
“Blessed is the one… whose delight is in the law of the Lord… That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.”
A tree planted. Roots deep. Fruit in season. Leaves that don’t wither.
Notice what the psalmist isn’t talking about. He’s not describing a reaction. He’s not describing a tree that grows tall because it’s competing with another tree. He’s describing depth. Being planted in soil and water that nourish you regardless of what’s happening above ground.
That’s the picture of a Christian who’s actually following Jesus.
The opposite picture? A tumbleweed. Rootless. Blowing wherever the wind takes it. Looking like motion. Producing nothing.
A lot of American Christianity right now is tumbleweed Christianity.
How reactivity disguises itself as conviction
Here’s how reactivity works in the wild. You see something — a news story, a viral video, a politician’s tweet, a celebrity’s stance — and before you’ve actually thought about whether the underlying claim is true, you’ve already decided what you think. Why? Because you saw which team made the move, and you reacted.
If your team made the move, you defend it.
If the other team made the move, you reject it.
That’s not Christian discernment. That’s team sports with Bible verses sprinkled on top.
Right-leaning version: “The progressives are pro-X, so I’m anti-X. Doesn’t matter what X is.”
Left-leaning version: “The evangelicals are pro-X, so I’m anti-X. Doesn’t matter what X is.”
I’ve watched faithful Christians on the right take wildly different positions on the exact same policy depending on which administration was implementing it. I’ve watched faithful Christians on the left throw out core orthodox doctrines simply because conservatives still hold them. Both groups thought they were being thoughtful. Both were just reacting.
You might be holding the right position for entirely the wrong reason — and that’s still a problem.
The diagnostic question
Here’s a simple test. Pick a hot-button issue you have a strong opinion on. Now ask yourself, with brutal honesty:
“If my political tribe suddenly switched positions on this tomorrow — would I switch with them?”
If yes — you’re not rooted. You’re reacting.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you’re wrong on the issue itself. The reactive Christian and the rooted Christian sometimes land on the same answer. But they get there in completely different ways. One is being shaped by Jesus. The other is being shaped by the enemy team. Only one of those is going to bear fruit when the cultural weather changes.
And the cultural weather is going to change. It always does.
So what actually builds rootedness?
This is the unsexy answer nobody wants to hear. It’s slow. It’s old. It’s boring. It’s everything our hyper-stimulated, dopamine-fueled lives are organized to avoid.
It’s reading the Bible slowly enough to actually hear it.
It’s prayer that doesn’t have an agenda.
It’s silence and solitude — not as an Instagram aesthetic, but as a practice that lets your soul catch up to your body.
It’s community with people who will tell you the truth, not just affirm your existing opinions.
It’s fasting from your phone long enough to remember that the news cycle isn’t the same thing as reality.
It’s the slow, costly, deeply unfashionable work of letting your roots grow down into the soil of God before you spend another minute reacting to what’s happening above ground.
Most of us aren’t rooted because we don’t want to do that work. We’d rather have an opinion on everything than a foundation under anything.
A question to sit with
Here’s where I want to leave you this week. Pick one opinion you hold strongly — political, cultural, theological, doesn’t matter. Now ask:
Did I arrive at this position because I encountered Jesus and his Word and his Spirit and was changed? Or did I arrive at this position because my team told me to?
If you can’t tell the difference… that’s exactly the problem this whole series is trying to address.
Next week: Truth Over Tribe. What it actually looks like to call out sin on your own team — and why most of us would rather get a root canal.
Drop your honest reaction in the comments. Where have you caught yourself reacting instead of being rooted? What’s a position you hold that you’re not sure you hold for the right reasons? I’m in this with you.
If this resonated, share it with someone — including someone on the “other team.”
