I am continually disturbed and have to spend much time in prayer over what I see on TV, social media and the internet. Most of the time I carefully limit my exposure to the negative, to the false…and to the aggression that I see toward the values and principles I hold dear.
Putting my head in the sand is not an option though. Just as I am compelled to share the most important thing in the world which is to know Jesus and invite Him to be your personal Savior, leaning into Him, seeking Him in every move and decision in life, I am equally compelled to “speak the truth in love.” Our country, more than ever, is at a pivotal point…a point that some of my Christian friends see as a point of no return. I refuse to believe it. It may be so, but I am accountable before a Holy God not to sit idly by…not to just get on the “float” and float on down the river of moral decay and rejection of God.
I have to speak. I have to stand.
I know that I know that God gives us free choice to choose or reject Him. “It is the gift of God so that no one can boast” (see Ephesians 2:8-9). We just have to accept the “free and unearned gift!” Salvation. With that being said, being a Christian comes with the responsibility to love and share the love of Jesus with others but it also commands us to take a STAND….to stand against wrong…to speak up…for right. Just as it is our individual job to share Christ and not leave it up to our pastors, it is our job to stand up politically and not just by the politicians we elect.
We, as citizens of this great nation, are all accountable to care for our nation. Not sit back with our feet up and leave it to the “few” who are willing to take the bullets of discrimination and ridicule from others! Now, there is a right way and a wrong way to STAND UP. As believers and followers of Christ, you can be angry and sin NOT. You can allow your anger to be the catalyst that takes your “feet” off the table, puts them firmly on the ground and moves them toward the values and principles you say you believe in.
Just like faith without works is said to be “dead,” so is your “voice” if you sit idly by and let America tank. Going along with a growing culture who rejects God and the values the Bible teaches.
It does not mean you hate the sinner. We are all sinners in need of a Savior. No one likes to be condemned or judged. That is up to God and His word. It is our job to love, teach, pray and come along beside people to share Christ with them and live according to His word. Not be emerged in the filth that is going on. “Love covers many things”.
Sometimes “tough love is required”. The kind of love that “speaks the truth in love”. The kind we saw Jesus walk out in His 33 short years on earth. You never see Him scream or yell at anyone but He never departed from the values. He testified always. He took major time to pray and He rejected Satan at every turn.
What does His word especially instruct believers to do?
Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Ephesians 5:17, “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”
1 Corinthians 3:19-23, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness’ and again, ‘The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.’ So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.”
Matthew 22:36-40, “’Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’”
It is time to take God’s word seriously in how we “live out loud” this Christian walk. We need to walk the talk. Know when right is right and wrong is wrong. Speak. Stand. Speaking the truth in love.
“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” ~Abraham Lincoln