In today’s society it seems as if everyone is allowed to be offended except those who openly live for Christ. Whether Christians proclaim the hope, truth, and good news of the Bible in all aspects of their life, or simply allow the doctrines of the Christian faith to dictate the decisions they make in their own lives, they are attacked on all sides by those who rebel against a faith based approach to life.
These attacks are rooted in a lie about the definition of love and use this new definition to label Christians as bigots who are intolerant and unloving.
At one time, it was considered a loving act to warn people when they were headed in a direction that would cause them or the people around them harm. (We would never allow a toddler to touch an open flame) True love protects and corrects.
When political correctness was birthed it dictated that we were not to offend anyone for any reason. An indoctrination began to redefine love as accepting and endorsing all forms of evil and immoral behavior and calling them good, while at the same time creating an population who dictates that all good is actually evil. This path has led to much sorrow.
After years of passive silence, Christians are realizing the things they never dreamed could happen have now become legalized, endorsed and acceptable behavior. Those things considered evil and sinful now carry the label of good and encouraged and have all been put in place to make sure certain demographics were not offended.
These actions are offensive to the deepest parts of a Christian’s being and leave believers with no idea how to respond after years of passive silence.
When we have the courage to finally draw a ‘line in the sand’ and say, “This is wrong.”, (Don’t touch the fire because it will burn you.) we are brutally attacked.
Since the majority of Christians have been silent for so many years, these attacks leave us uncertain of what to do as the pressures build. Unless we are grounded in the Word of God, we can easily find ourselves REACTING to the attacks instead of RESPONDING.
Reacting is done on impulse, without thought to consequences or outcome. It is a defensive act that that is typically emotional in nature. Oftentimes it leads us to behave poorly and recklessly. Regret often follows a reaction.
Responding is a planned, thought out decisive act. It is an offensive act that weighs long term effect over immediate concerns and emotions. It is a position of power and leads to a stance of credibility that can create effective change.
As Christians, we must learn to be people of response instead of reaction. Responding allows time for prayer, and seeking God on how He wants us to move forward. It also allows you to recognize who the enemy is and how best to defeat them.
David was under attack (as people of the Christian faith are today) and instead of reacting to the attacks, he went to the Lord and asked Him; “Should I attack them back?”
This pause and pray response, allowed David to gain the direction that he needed to gain victory over the ones attacking him. During one attack God said go directly and meet them head on and the victory would be his…another time, God instructed him to go fight, but to attack from the rear and the victory would be his.
This example of David responding to the attack after seeking the Lord was key in his victory.
The beautiful thing about our seeking God in our response to the attacks instead of reacting…
When I react, I and operating on my own power and trying to fight in my own limited abilities. When I wait and respond, I am recognizing the true enemy and allowing God’s power its place in the battle.
We do not have to fight in our own strength and power because the Lord will fight for us.
The Lord will tell us how we are to fight
He wont always lead us to fight in the same way we have won in the past.
The Lord will Respond on our behalf as we move past reaction and ask for His help.
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