The old saying, “give an inch and he’ll take a mile” is true. People always push the line out further and further. They won’t stop pushing the line until the end when the Lord finally steps in. A rich man was once asked, “how much money is ‘enough’ money?” The rich man replied, “there’s always more.”
In light of the abortion issue that is so prevalent at this time, I personally think that our Father is not going to help our nation right now because ‘overall’ it doesn’t want to be helped. We are in the time that the bible speaks of…”darkness covered the earth and gross darkness the people.” But someday (and I hope it’s soon) Jesus will come. He will rule this earth with a rod of iron. Every knee WILL bow to Him.
Things tend to happen in ‘threes’ and the #3 represents ‘completeness.’ In the time of Moses, the Pharaoh heard rumor of a deliverer that was coming to free the Hebrew slaves from Egypt. He ordered all male Hebrew babies, age two and under, to be slaughtered. Again, at the time of Jesus’ birth, rumor went around of a Messiah that was to come, a deliverer. King Herod sent out a decree that all male babies, age two and under should be killed in that region. Now, once again, we see evil rising up and the decree to kill babies. There is no word I can think of to describe the horror of it all. Yet, Jesus himself told us “when these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Our Father saved Moses in a basket, he saved Jesus in a manger, I believe he is holding these murdered (yes, that’s what I said, murdered!) babies in his bosom.
Stay Focused
Let me be clear, I am not making light of this situation. I am simply saying that we must keep our eyes on Jesus as he instructed us to do. In no way do I believe that we should do only that and not get involved. I don’t believe for a minute that God wants his people to sit idly on the sidelines and do nothing. Each of us should seek Him and his direction concerning our involvement, in this, or any situation. When Jesus physically walked the earth over 2000 years ago, he did not sit idly by and watch the wrong doings without speaking out about it. He rose up.
Here is a statement that might rattle your chains. Jesus was not nice! He was kind, but he was not nice. Jesus was more than nice. People say God is Love. That is true. What exactly is Love? It is defined for us in 1 Corinthians 13. There, it says that Love (God) (1 John 4:8) is kind. Nowhere in the bible do I see where it says Jesus is nice.
You might ask, ‘what is the difference”? Niceness is focused on outward consequences (a desire to not ruffle feathers or to minimize conflict), while kindness comes from inside, (a love for others and a desire for their well-being). Nice people do occasional good deeds. Kind people consistently love others. Nice people don’t make enemies. (Let’s go back and look at the definition of nice.) Jesus had lots of them! Jesus is referred to as “a Lamb.” But he is also called “The Lion of Judah.” He had no tolerance for evil and those that worked it. He took the time to make himself a whip and drive the evil ones from the Temple. He didn’t go in there to be nice. He overturned tables. He didn’t care that he was inconveniencing or offending them. They were wrong; they were desecrating the Holy Place, and he set out to stop them. He wasn’t afraid to take a stand, to call them out. He wasn’t afraid of conflict. He wasn’t afraid of what people thought of him. He was willing to tell people when they were wrong because he loved them more than he cared about what they thought of him. He said a lot of things to a lot of people that were not very ‘nice’: “you hypocrites, you brood of vipers; you children of the devil.”
If Jesus had been ‘nice’ no one would have wanted him crucified. But he stood for what was righteous and true. The people didn’t like that; therefore, he was crucified. The bible tells us that we can expect the same. “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2 Timothy 3:12)
If you stand up for what is right, be prepared. You will not be popular. You will not be liked. You will be persecuted.
It is a lot easier to just be “nice” and keep your head down; to avoid all the horrible stuff that is happening. It’s easier to say, “God is not telling me to get involved.” Hear me: Yes, he is!
Two familiar quotes come to mind:
1. “The key to failure is staying silent and trying to please everybody.”
2. “If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.”
The word stand is a verb.
When Jesus left the earth he told his disciples to “go and preach the gospel”. They did not sit around scratching their heads saying, “he didn’t tell us where?” They just went. I recall the Lord stopping the apostle Paul once. He caused him to be ship wrecked because the Lord didn’t want him to go there. Otherwise, they just stood up, and went!
If we really want to be like Jesus, we can’t settle for “nice.” Just as he did, we must rise up. We must take the time to ‘make our whip’. We must overturn the tables, remembering that Jesus didn’t go on a violent rampage. He rose up with that holy anger the bible speaks of. We must take a stand.
Proverbs 31:8 says, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.”
Is our only responsibility to pray? Only if God specifically speaks to you to do nothing else but pray. Otherwise, take a stand.
