Will you fight or follow?

Have you been paying attention to the news lately?  There have been a couple of related stories about violence in sports. One story was at a pro game in San Francisco where fans started to violently flail away at each other and the other just happened in Florida as thirteen year old football players attacked a referee over what they considered a “bad call” !  

What is going on?  Something that is also much related: the absence of the Lord controlling the heart ! And what should we really expect when God is not allowed in our schools, when any semblance of God in public is ridiculed or removed.  So what can you do as one person to effect change?   Make sure the world sees Jesus in you !!  

I often think of how Daniel must’ve felt going to school then working and worshipping in a pagan land.  His cronies saw the Lord in his life. They said, “We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.”  (Dan.6:5).  High praise indeed, from dastardly men even !

Some years ago I took a new convert to a Penn State football game. It’s since been called the “Ice Bowl” because a snow storm happened a day or two before this big game between us and Michigan.  And of course,with no love lost between fans typically, people began to make snowballs from the snow at their feet which compacted quickly turned to ice balls !  Two drunks a few rows in front of us actually hit an elderly lady on the head below them and I had to speak up.  I told them what they’d just done and that if I saw more I would call the stadium police on them.  My friend was worried I had just gotten us into a fight.  And at first I thought maybe he was right but I told the drunks I was a Christian and a pastor and I didn’t appreciate their language or actions. Immediately, even in their state, they apologized, my friend was greatly relieved and things got very calm around all of us in that section, ha !

I’m not advocating the agitation of intoxicated “morons” (the biblical Greek of the KJV ‘s “fools”).I took a chance to reason with drunks !  But I am encouraging us to stand up and be counted as believers.  People need the fear of the Lord in their hearts, they need to see the presence of Him in yours !   When Jesus spoke His incredible “Sermon on the Mount” He urged us to be  “the salt of the earth” & “the light of the world”  (Matt 5:13,14).    Don’t minimize the effect you as one person can have upon a dark and decaying world, two evil properties which can be effectively checked and changed by light and salt !

Take each day at a time to spend quality time with the Lord and stay in fellowship with Him.  As you do, you will make a mark for the Master just as Daniel did.  This old world is looking and longing for people who will shine for Christ, be that person today !!

 

0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *