Tuesday; April 7
As
Christians, do we ever feel like the world is
out to get us? Do we get this feeling
that society, governments, unbelievers ... or any one of a number of other
people ... are trying to bully us into backing down? I do my best to try to stay positive about
things like this and try not to join in with the negativity that is so easy
spread, but if the truth were known, I would have to admit that there are some
people out to destroy the Christian lifestyle.
While this may be the reality, there is another side to it – this is
nothing new – God’s people have always been the subject to loudmouth
detractors. The fact that it exists
isn’t what’s important, that is reserved for the question, “What are we going
to do about it?”.
Most of us are
familiar with the story of David and Goliath where the big meanie said awful
things to the Israelite army. He was
imposing and vile – but more than anything he was effective because people were
too afraid to challenge him. They just
accepted that he was the biggest, baddest dude on the block and they avoided
conflict. They believed his propaganda
and accepted their fate. Well, they did
until David showed up. When the young
man heard what the giant was saying, he took offense and went on the
offensive. He believed that His God was
bigger than this heathen and was unwilling to be intimidated. In fact, he accepted Goliath’s challenge by
saying, “You come to me with a sword, a spear,
and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts,
the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.”, then summed up his
faith by advocating, “... that all this assembly may know that the Lord does
not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and
He will give you into our hands.” (I Samuel 17:45, 47). We know that Goliath was killed by a stone to
the forehead, but he was defeated by the heart of a godly warrior.
We
have a choice when it comes to dealing with the bullies in our world. We can let them intimidate us or we can summon
the courage of David and challenge them in the name of the God who assures
victory!
Think About It!