Rise Up!

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke (famous philosopher and political theorist)The world is coming against the church today like never before. God's word is being attacked. God's truths about marriage, sexuality, the meaning of life, etc. are so anti cultural that it is now commonplace to openly mock them and call them "outdated". The bible has made it very clear that the church would face these sorts of trials. What is concerning, however, is that sincere followers of Christ have begun to slip to the background out of fear. The world has so many people that are eager to step up and mock God. Some will literally scream and yell aloud their negative feelings towards Him at every public opportunity, but too few of His followers are willing to step up and shout aloud His truth.

The battle against the truth has become so confrontational and out in the open, that many Christians have just quit fighting. We have churches and individuals all over the world who are now openly compromising God's word, because it is just so much easier than going against the status quo. As followers of Jesus, this is not a time for us to shrink back, but to rise up.

I am not suggesting that we shout negativity and criticism right back at the world, but that we muster up the courage to proclaim the truth louder. With love being our greatest motivation, we need to rise up and go on the offensive. We don't need to attack people and drag ourselves down to the level of those mocking God. However, every time someone in the world yells out a lie, there should be 2 followers of Christ ready to passionately speak out the truth in a loving way. Every time a child hears something in school like, "You are nothing more than a highly evolved animal," we need two more God fearing adults ready to speak over them that "They were fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God and that He knit them together in their mother's womb" (Psalm 139:14 & Psalm 139:13). Every time the world tells a young adult couple that it is perfectly fine to live together out of wedlock and to have sex before marriage, we need two other young adult couples who are willing to rise above those norms and to save themselves for marriage. The most effective thing we can do is to live our lives in such a way that others can't help but notice how different we look from the world. We don't need people to attack those who are not living in accordance with God's word. We are not called to fight evil with evil, but to fight evil with good (Romans 12:21). We simply need more people who are willing to actually live in accordance with God's word. We need more followers of Jesus willing to live in such a way that is louder and much more appealing than the world. We need the world to see the joy and peace that accompany a life submitted to God's will. We need individuals to rise above their fears of what others will think or say, and to step into the life God has for them. We need to stand tall and rise up for God's truth. If we do that, the joy of The Lord will sing so loudly from our inner being that it will drown out all the negative and angry shouts coming from the world.

I have by no means mastered this, and there plenty of times where I have shrunk back out of fear. So I am asking myself the following question as well as everyone reading this today. What area of your life have you compromised? In what area of your life do you know you are not living how God called you to live? I urge you today to draw your line in the sand. Agree that you are no longer going to compromise what God has for you to appease the world around you. Pray and ask God to come along side you and to give you the strength to see it through. Rise up, shout aloud His truth over your life, and go on the offensive. 

This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Ephesians 5:14).