We Live in Rome

I've said these four words to myself often over the last three decades, and never more often than in our current predicament.

Feb 03, 2025

I love learning from the Stoics, despite their stubborn insistence on being loyal subjects of a vast and oppressive empire. That aside, they offer some pretty unique insights into handling life in all of its complexity.

In my inbox today was an email from The Daily Stoic that challenged me:

David Brooks, writing of our moment, recently talked about the 'moral inversion' of contemporary politics. Instead of scandals ending someone’s career in today’s world, it’s almost a badge of honor. Lawsuits, convictions, divorces, affairs, sexual harassment, damning on the record comments—these things swirl around our public figures who shamelessly shrug them off. Not just in politics, but business and tech and entertainment all have their share of unrepentant cheaters and monsters.
Is this what it takes to get ahead these days?
We have to remind ourselves, as Marcus Aurelius did, that no matter what other people do (or what other people get away with), our job is to be good. Our job is to resist this moral inversion, to not fall prey to what psychologists have called the 'What The Hell' Effect–tossing up our hands and going along with something because everyone else is, because nothing matters anymore.
Like Cato, we might be living in the dredges of Romulus, but we don’t have to be bottom feeders. We don’t have to be corrupted or degraded by the moment we are living in. Marcus Aurelius didn’t. He rose above it. He shone through it. He stayed true.
And so must we.

I remember some headlines from the 1990s that made me think the world was going off the rails. I found reading the general epistles in the New Testament helpful because they were mostly written to people trying to follow the Way of Jesus while living under the rule of Rome surrounded by a culture hostile to Christian values.

I started saying these four words to myself as a reminder of what I could control and what I couldn’t.

We live in Rome.

That is to say, we live in a world where empires rise and rule, where people on the margins suffer, and where the values of our surrounding culture constantly shift like the wind.

People with disproportionate amounts of power and wealth will continue to rig the system in their own favor economically, politically, and otherwise.

Nations will continue to rise against other nations, sometimes with bombs and sometimes with unfair tariffs. Racism, nationalism, despotism, imperialism, and all kinds of other isms will continue dominating our thinking despite how much we see ourselves as enlightened or evolved.

Why?

Because we live in Rome.

Knowing that we live in Rome doesn’t make any of it better, but it does give me clarity about the game plan. It helps me know what I can and cannot control.

I can’t control the outcome of elections, but I can vote.

I can’t make other people live by the ethical standards I believe Jesus prescribes for us, but I can live within those guardrails myself.

I can’t take away the anxiety that I and the friends around me are feeling, but I can model what it looks like to stay healthy and be steady in the middle of it all.

I can’t singlehandedly defeat evil, but I can take my place in God’s subversive kingdom and share the words and ways of Jesus.

I can’t stop racism, but I can link arms with those working toward a racially just and equitable society.

Jesus taught his disciples to forgive, turn the other cheek, and care for the sick, the poor, and the broken. He challenged them to love God and ALL of their neighbors in spite of existing cultural and religious prejudices. And he sent them out to share the good news of the kingdom, promising his presence until the end of the ages.

James urged Christians scattered around the empire to endure trials patiently, put their wealth to work for the poor, and stay faithful no matter what.

Peter encouraged “God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the (Roman) provinces… when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”

And my personal favorite, John wrote letters to churches scattered around the empire (the second and third chapters of Revelation) and told each one of them to stay faithful and to overcome, even the severest of persecutions, on the basis of a prophecy…

The Lamb will indeed reign and the Way of Jesus, though highly countercultural, is the Way through which God is redeeming all that is lost and broken today.

The collective voices of Jesus and his earliest church leaders is consistent in at least two veins:

#1: Don’t follow the way of Rome, which is the way of empire, violence, oppression, and corruption.

There is far more to life than achieving power, collecting wealth, and protecting privilege.

Be different. Be selfless. Be kind and compassionate. Show empathy. Practice love. Share resources. Join the marginalized. Remember the forgotten. Visit those in prison. Speak up for the voiceless.

#2: Don’t let the power of Rome overwhelm or discourage you - stay faithful to the Way of Jesus.

You’ve probably heard the old adage, “If you can’t beat’em, join’em.”

But what if following Jesus means knowing you can’t beat them and determining not to join them anyway?

What if it’s just about bearing witness to the power of love in a world governed by fear, anger, and hate?

Yes, it’s hard right now to watch the dismantling of progress toward a more just, peaceful, and equitable society. It’s hard to watch the most wealthy and powerful benefactors of predatory capitalism wrecklessly reshape whole governments to retain their position and privilege.

But this is where we are.

We live in Rome.

And when in Rome, don’t do as the Romans do. Do as Jesus did.

From a more timeless, even eternal perspective, the work hasn’t changed. The Great Commandment to love God and all of our neighbors hasn’t changed. The Great Commission to invite others to learn the Way of Jesus hasn’t been rescinded.

And if it helps you to remain stubbornly hopeful, add these two words…

We live in Rome for now.

But we’re building something better, in partnership with God, than any earthly empire could ever promise to become.

We’re making earth more of a place where God’s will is done, as it is in heaven, by loving one precious soul at a time.

You can’t fix it all. But you can follow faithfully. And when you do, no matter how odd, weird, or alone the surrounding culture tries to make you feel, you’re actually surrounded by a cloud of faithful witnesses and living in good company today.

Today, be faithful.

Tomorrow? Do it again.

Walk Humble

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