Standing Up For Christ

In an environment where anything goes, standing up for one's beliefs can be costly. In some countries around the world, Christians who face persecution and resulting hardships every day because of their faith are far more aware of this than we are in the West. Yet, they stand firm in the face of difficult circumstances while holding fast to the profession of their faith.

It is not easy swimming upstream when it seems everybody else is swimming downstream. It is not easy to say "no" when it seems everybody else is saying "yes". It is no wonder genuine Christians stick out like sore thumbs; they find it impossible to accept and embrace much of what society deems acceptable simply because certain behaviors and attitudes are contrary to the Word of God. Unfortunately, some professing Christians choose to remain silent and in the process they unintentionally allow the perpetuation of those behaviours and attitudes. It is so easy to go along with the crowd instead of "rocking the boat" by taking a stand.

John the Baptist had other ideas. In a culture where criticizing the king was to sign one's death warrant, he had openly rebuked King Herod for taking his sister-in-law, Herodias, as his own wife. Fearing that John's preaching would start a revolt against him, Herod had him thrown in jail. According to the narrative, Mark 4:1-29, Herodias, who was smoldering with hate and wanted John killed, completed a series of manipulative moves that boxed the king in a corner. After a couple glasses of wine too many, he had promised Herodias' daughter anything she wanted. The mother promptly saw her opportunity and told her to ask for the head of John the Baptist (V.24). Not willing to take a stand, Mark tells us, "And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her. And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother" (vv. 26-28, KJV). We can only imagine that she looked at it with immense satisfaction. She had silenced the voice of rebuke. This despite the fact that having John killed did not change the reality of the inappropriateness of her marriage to the king.

Standing up and speaking out cost John his head. He knew the probable consequences but instead of compromising by remaining silent, he chose to stand up for truth and righteousness. In a culture of darkness, his light shone brightly. What about your light? When things are going the wrong way in your spheres of influence - your offices, your homes, your churches - and when things get out of hand, do you speak up? Christians are supposed to be the light of the world (Mark 5:14) and the whole purpose of light is to repel darkness. If you are not shining where you are and if no one knows what you stand for, then something is wrong. Maybe it is time for a light check?

Being Led of the Spirit

In his letter to the believers in Galatia, Paul writes, "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law" (5:16-18, KJV). Isn't it interesting that he used the world "walk"? This tells us the Christian life is a journey, and to walk in the Spirit is to walk as guided by the Spirit. In other words, to live under His influence and not resist Him and in doing so, "ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." So far, so good.

However, as we are guided by the Spirit along our journey, what happens when He is leading us somewhere we would rather not go? Or to take it one step further, somewhere we definitely do not want to go? Because He is the one leading and because He only works in accordance with what is in the will of God, a part of trusting Him means trusting that wherever He leads is all a part of God's plan for our lives. That can get tricky because He sees and knows far more than we do. For the most part we have a fear of the unknown; we want to see and know where we are going and why. These thoughts came to mind as I reflected on the opening verse of Matthew 4, "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil," and I thought, "To be what????" For sure, the Spirit must have taken a wrong turn somewhere! To compound matters, this was not a quick trip through the wilderness but rather a forty-days and forty-nights (v.2) assault on the mind, the emotions and the will during a time of fasting and according to Mark 1:13, while surrounded by wild beasts. It is no wonder that when the devil left Him, "angels came and ministered unto Him" (Matthew 4:11).

On the outside looking in, all of this makes very little, if any, sense. Yet it wasn't that the Spirit did not know what He was doing; it wasn't that He had lost His way. His leading Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil was all a part of God's plan for "the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God" (1 Corinthians 2:11). It follows that as we are led by the Spirit we too may be led to places and into situations that seem strange. For those of us who are methodical in whatever we do and those of us who like to be in control, this is rather scary. Yet we can rest assured that the Holy Spirit will never lead us into situations contrary to the Word of God and that are not in keeping with the will of God for our lives. Yes, those valley experiences are included as well. The challenge is not to resist Him though everything in our flesh will want to do that.

Where is He leading you? What is He asking you to do? What is your response?

Unconditional Love and Acceptance

Have you ever felt excluded from an event or group because you did not meet someone else's standards? How about feeling rejected by others because you were considered not "good enough"? According to social scientists, inherent in the process of growing and developing as a person to achieve individual potential is our need to be accepted for who we are. Nevertheless, it seems parts of the media have done and continue to do a masterful job in making some people feel personally inadequate. Advertisers tell us we are too fat, too slim, we need to buy this or that to get a desired look, to become more attractive. For some people, it is pressure from our families, friends, and most regrettably, our spouses. It is as if we are encouraged to strive for something that is always out of our reach. And some of us have spent hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars trying.

These thoughts came to mind as I reflected on Romans 5:8 where Paul writes, "But God commendeth [showed] His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (KJV). Stop and read the verse again. Paraphrased in The Message it reads, "But God put His love on the line for us by offering His Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to Him." That is right. While we were yet sinners, while we were of no use whatsoever to Him, God accepted us as a people worth saving. It is easy to gloss over this wonderful truth. To fully understand the extent to which God pursues the sinner is to understand that to be a sinner is to be His enemy. We came into the world as sinners, as enemies of God, and so from the very beginning we were not "good enough." Yet God, because of His great love, looked beyond our sins, our faults, our imperfections, our weaknesses and saw something in us that He deemed valuable. Not only did He have warm thoughts towards us, covered as we were in the ugliness of sin, but He demonstrated His love and acceptance by giving His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). Jesus took our place and through dying on the cross, saved us from an eternal hell.

It is important to note that God did not stipulate that for Him to love us we first had to become "good enough." While we may struggle with our insecurities in our efforts to be accepted by those around us, God accepts us the way we are. Our thoughts and feelings about ourselves should be based on this unshakeable truth and not on some secular media-driven standards. While we may not be able to meet and live up to the standards of others, we can rest comfortably in the fact that God loves and accepts us the way we are. His intent is that we enter into a relationship with Him, through Christ, and allow Him to work out His purposes in our lives. It is difficult to struggle with low self-esteem when we embrace His love and acceptance. No matter who you are, what you have done, what you look like, God loves you and He has demonstrated that love for the whole world to see.

Unconditional love and acceptance feels wonderful, doesn't it? Think about that the next time you look into the mirror.

Talking About "Body Parts"

As the parent of a soon to be college basketball player, I have had my share of sitting in gyms watching different teams practice and play over the years. One thing that usually intrigued me was that if one player did not do exactly as the coach instructed during practice, the entire team had to do laps around the gym. Something about that did not seem fair and some of the boys’ facial expressions said as much! However, in the context of team, it reinforced the fact that the actions of one affected the whole. This is not unlike what happened in Eden. Adam and Eve messed up and all of humanity continues to be affected by the consequences of their actions. Again, that does not seem fair. Just maybe, if we were able to start in our own Eden we would have made a different choice! However, just like those boys doing their laps in the gym, we did not get a vote. For better or for worse, we are a team.
 
The apostle Paul used the same idea when he sought to remind members of the early Church of their obligations to each other. To the Corinthians he writes, "The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance" (1 Cor. 12:25-26, The Message). I find the last two sentences rather compelling; if one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the cheerfulness.
 
One body, one team. We all need each other. Earlier on in his letter Paul states, "For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him" (vv. 14-18, KJV). In other words, there is interrelatedness between each part with each part doing exactly as it should. Then and only then is the body truly healthy.
 
What does that mean on a practical level? As members of the body of Christ we are obligated to each other to play our part as God intended. We cannot opt out simply because we do not like some of the other body parts. Secondly, what part do you play? Maybe someone could benefit from a word of encouragement, a phone call, a note to say you care. Thirdly, understand that together we are the church, the body of Christ. Individually, we cannot wait for someone else to do what God placed us in the Body to do. An ineffective body part is a strain on the body; the body may compensate but it is not functioning as well as it should.
 
Are you effectively doing your part?  Is the Body hurting because of the loss of your contribution?