I gotta be honest with you. I cannot stand weak people. I mean, come on! Stand up for something and don’t back down. For the love!
That probably makes me sound really harsh but stay with me and I’ll get there. First, I want to tell you a story from my own life to illustrate what I’m talking about. Anyone who knows me knows I typically have no problem voicing an opinion or taking a stand on something. I may get crushed for taking that stand and my stands have not always been the right thing, but you get the point. This is genetic, I think. It’s in my blood. My family has never really been a back down kinda people. But, the story…So, if you’ve been reading anything I’ve written, you know I was a police officer (it feels like eons ago). I was up for promotion at one point and had to sit for an interview before the chief of police and the command staff. My chief asked me what the one character flaw was that was inexcusable for supervisors (in my opinion). I said, “Indecisiveness.” I meant that. The one thing police officers cannot be and most certainly supervisors cannot be is indecisive. Lives hang in the balance. Make a decision. But I also hate cowards. So not only should you make the decision, but you also need to be man enough to stand on that decision. If it was right or wrong, stand on it. Take your praise or take your lumps like a man (or woman). What’s the point? I am sick and tired of meely-mouthed, weak Christians (and my own weakness at times). I am sick of people who are Christian in name only. I am sick of watching those who claim the name of Christ fail to stand for Him and cower to the world. For far too long, Christians have (for the most part) bowed to the culture in this country and in the West and this has got to stop. I remember “back in the day” when I made fun of conservative Christians who called for a boycott of Disney. I’m ashamed to say that I made fun of my dad for that. Well, I’m officially on that train now. It’s time for us to stop cowering, Christians. It’s time for us to worry more about our souls and the souls of our children than our comfort. The truth is that we want our cake and eat it too. We want the comforts without the cost. We have failed to take Jesus seriously when He said things like, “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” (Matthew 12:30) Or, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26) We have failed to take the testimony of the early Christians seriously or even the Lord’s own brother when he said, “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” (James 2:17-26) Enough with the compromise with the world! Enough with us pussyfooting around with sin and our comfort. We have compromised with the world, brothers and sisters! Let us turn away from the filth of the world. Let us repent, lest we be like the Church of Laodicea and hear Christ say to us, “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” (Rev. 3:15-16) I commend to you the 3rd chapter of The Book of Revelation. We quibble and we compromise, and our very souls are at stake, dear brethren. The souls of our children are at stake. Do we love Christ so little that we aren’t even willing to give up our love of our appetites?! Do we not know that eternity is much longer than the 70-80 years we live now? Do we not know that the damnation of Hell will be utter misery and depravation and torture and the absence of all that is Good and Holy and Beautiful?! I want to leave you with a quote by St. Theophan the Recluse. He said, when commenting on the offer that we have of union with God and deification, “Know that there is no middle ground – it is all or nothing.” There is no middle ground. You are in or out. We are either with Him or against Him. We either scatter or sow. We either gain the world or we gain our soul. We cannot have faith without works. We must be hot or cold. There is no middle ground.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
March 2021
Categories
All
|