How Modern Activism Replaces Grace with Grind and Feeling with Formation
Introduction: Given Life, Given to Life, Receives Life
It’s been one of those mornings. The Holy Spirit woke me up at 03:30 to chat. At first, I thought God was giving me grace to continue my thesis work, but I soon learned He had something even more pressing to discuss.
Coffee in tow, Bible in row, I bend the bow of my heart to be blown away by God. Again. As always. God rocks my world, or rather, rocks my given world.
Obediently, I continue my Bible reading in John 10, and Jesus sets the stage alight like only God can.
About halfway through my 21 years of being a Christian, I fell into the trap that today’s Scripture in John 10 warns about. I got involved in politics which, when done for the glory of God, is a wonderful thing. But my activism wasn’t that. My motive, as it turned out, was avoidance. I thought I could somehow balance my efforts of “doing right” against the character defects I had so many of. Years of true DSM-5 defined trauma, near-death experiences, threats to life, had left me internalising pain into self-hatred. I thought activism was the antidote. I thought that if I did enough good, I could outrun the voices that told me I was bad.
God had a different way. I know now why the early Church was called “People of the Way.”
Pal U Gain Isms
Welcome to the age of Pal U Gain Isms, a culture baptised in hustle, defined by output, and measured by performance. Where self-worth is indistinguishable from personal brand, and salvation looks a lot like six-pack abs and a vision board.
“Your value is in your hustle.”
“Personal branding is your identity.”
“You are what you produce.”
These aren’t just memes. They’re mantras. And they echo Pelagian heresy louder than we think. Pelagius taught that we could earn righteousness through moral effort, that grace was helpful but not necessary.¹ Fast forward to today, and Pelagianism has been resurrected in gym memberships, self-help manifestos, and an “I’ve got this” theology of self-reliance.²
Even workplace burnout has become a form of martyrdom for meaning.³ We die for our paychecks because we believe they raise our worth. It’s not just the gospel of grind, it’s the gospel of gain.
How to Feel Good Without Being Good
Modern activism has become a spiritual drug: it floods the brain with dopamine, creates tribal identity, and offers the illusion of moral superiority.⁴ Studies show that online outrage lights up reward centres in the brain, reinforcing not just what we say but why we say it.⁵ In many cases, it’s not justice we want. It’s the high of being right.
Theologian René Girard warned us: scapegoating is society’s ritual of self-cleansing.⁶ We pin blame on others not to heal the system but to preserve our place within it. Add to that the psychological need to control, one has a defence mechanism against trauma.⁷ And, you have a recipe for activism that isn’t about righteousness but about regulation: not grace-driven correction, but power-driven projection.
“You Will Be Like God”: Systems of Self-Made Righteousness
From Genesis 3 to TikTok 2025, the lie persists: You will be like God.⁸ When activism, politics, or platforms become the measure of morality, we are not just acting, we are ascending. We replace God’s voice with the algorithm’s echo.
Jacques Ellul warned that technology, when unchecked, becomes an ideology, a new religion.⁹ Carl Trueman adds that we’ve turned inward, not to find God, but to enthrone the self.¹⁰ This is Pelagianism at the systemic level: salvation by strategy, ethics by efficiency, identity by invention.
Identity for Sale: The Business of Being Enough
In a culture of monetised meaning, identity is no longer something received, it’s something constructed, branded, and sold. Sherry Turkle and Jean Twenge have both shown how social media and market forces shape not just self-image but mental health.¹¹ We compare our value to likes, shares, and algorithmic applause. Our souls are for sale, one selfie at a time.
The result? Economics becomes Pelagian. We believe our worth is our net worth, that visibility equals value. And some churches, adopt these metrics, measuring ministry success in followers and funding. But Jesus asks: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?”¹²
Yuval Levin warns that institutions have become platforms for personal performance rather than spaces for moral formation.¹³ The result? A world where everyone is trying to “be enough,” while quietly dying under the weight of their own performance.
Pelagianism vs Gospel
The Apostle Paul didn’t mince words: “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:3).¹⁴ And again, “By grace you have been saved… not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8–9).¹⁵
Tim Keller put it simply: True humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.¹⁶ The gospel frees us not just from sin but from self.
The Shepherd Still Speaks
“My sheep hear My voice,” Jesus says (John 10:27). But in a world full of shouting, performance, and platforms, can we hear Him?
Dallas Willard reminds us that God’s voice is gentle, not sensational.¹⁷ It is heard not in hype but in obedience. Eugene Peterson calls it “a long obedience in the same direction.”¹⁸ The Shepherd speaks, not through viral trends, but through hidden faithfulness.
Conclusion: Right Righteousness, Not Righteousness Right Now
It’s intoxicating. You know, those smiling eyes of agreement. The self-praise. The “friends” hanging around for the “good” time. I had to walk away from it all. In 2020, when the COVID alarm rang, as did my get-up-and-go-to-work alarm, I took stock. I allowed the Holy Spirit to search my heart and reveal if my will to do good was for God or for me.
I didn’t like the answer…
I chose to learn to live for Jesus’ Way and see where it led. Up until COVID, I was still struggling with my needs coming before God’s will. Trust me, I still struggle, but I get better at surrender year upon year.
Stepping away from my need to be appreciated, heard, and maybe even loved was hard. My childhood had told me that I was insignificant, so giving up some form of significance found in activism felt like I was letting those who told me I was unimportant win all over again.
But I am in love with God. Not in a weird way, although it is weird knowing God exists but not being able to physically see Him. Still, God becoming the love of my life has helped me face my motives, and to let Him reshape my heart to follow Him fully.
I’m no longer afraid of the haters who call me all sorts of ugly names. Freedom comes when we let God’s Way guide us. If my studies have shown me anything, this one thing is for sure: I know nothing. So much of who I thought I was, was nothing more than experiences, voices, and information that told me to think what I think of myself.
And if I don’t even know my authentic self, as none of us truly do, how silly of me to think I know what the world God gave me really needs.
BUT GOD DOES…
Practical Application: Grace Over Grind
Evaluate Your Motives: Before you post, protest, or produce, pause. Ask: Am I doing this to be seen as righteous, or to walk with the Righteous One? Let John 10:27 anchor you: “My sheep hear My voice…”
Rest in God, Not in Your Reputation: Practice Sabbath not just as a day, but as a posture. Refuse the culture of exhaustion that says, you are only as valuable as what you do. In Christ, your value is sealed, not performed.
Detox from Dopamine Discipleship: Turn off the outrage. Fast from platforms that reward moral performance. Re-centre your spirit in the quiet of prayer and Scripture, not the noise of self-promotion.
Resist Identity Monetisation: Refuse to let your pain, story, or self become a product for clicks. You are not a brand. You are beloved. If you must build something, let it be a life on the foundation of grace.
Listen for the Shepherd’s Voice: Return daily to the voice of Jesus in the Word. Let His voice define your worth and direct your way. He speaks still, gently, truly, and with eternal intent.
Prayer
Lord Jesus,
We confess how easily we trade Your grace for our grind. How often we pursue righteousness without You, seeking applause, control, or healing by our own hands.
Forgive us, Good Shepherd, for chasing affirmation instead of abiding.
Help us to hear Your voice above the noise, the voice that calls us not to perform, but to follow.
In a world obsessed with hustle, make us holy. In systems that sell identity, make us secure in Yours.
In all our striving, teach us to rest. May our lives whisper this truth loudly: We are not our effort. We are Yours.
In Your matchless Holy Name King Jesus,
Amen.
References
1. Augustine. On Nature and Grace. Translated by Peter Holmes and Robert Ernest Wallis. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1874.
2. Martin Thornton, English Spirituality (London: SPCK, 1963), 6–7.
3. Jeffrey Pfeffer, Dying for a Paycheck (New York: HarperBusiness, 2018).
4. William J. Brady et al., “The Nature of Moral Outrage in Digital Communication,” Nature Human Behaviour 5, no. 11 (2021): 1594–1602.
5. Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion (New York: Pantheon, 2012).
6. René Girard, The Scapegoat (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986).
7. Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score (New York: Viking, 2014).
8. Genesis 3:5, Holy Bible.
9. Jacques Ellul, The Technological Society (New York: Vintage Books, 1964).
10. Carl R. Trueman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020).
11. Sherry Turkle, Alone Together (New York: Basic Books, 2011); Jean Twenge, iGen (New York: Atria, 2017).
12. Mark 8:36, Holy Bible.
13. Yuval Levin, A Time to Build (New York: Basic Books, 2020).
14. Galatians 3:3, Holy Bible.
15. Ephesians 2:8–9, Holy Bible.
16. Timothy Keller, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness (Good Book Co., 2012).
17. Dallas Willard, Hearing God (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1999).
18. Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1980).
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