If You Don't Stand for Something...

I have been thinking about the old advice adage of "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."  I don't know that I appreciate this advice all that much, nor do I repeat it to others.  But it did make me start thinking about my own stances - or lack thereof.

I started out by creating a head-list of my beliefs or pet causes that I would stand firm upon.  I decided to list 10.  That did not go so well.  I spent two days thinking about that top ten list and discovered I could not really identify that many things that mean so much to me that I would stand firm upon my conviction of them.  I then decided to identify only five.  This is my attempt to put those five hard-core convictions into written form.

I think my dearest conviction is that I believe in the one true and living God.  I believe in His written Word (the Bible) and I believe in The Word (Jesus).  I believe that God in the form of the Trinity was present at the creation of the world and, indeed, is the Creator.  I believe that the Holy Spirit is the manifestation of God that lives inside of me, guiding me, convicting me, comforting me and inspiring me.  I admit that I don't have this mystery completely figured out and can not explain the details of my triune God's existence.  My faith in Christ Jesus and acceptance of His free gift of grace is the key to my salvation.  I have no righteousness of my own but I understand that I am justified by Jesus' sacrifice on the cross.  I am a sinner and can not save my self.  I deserve hell and so do you.  God loves us - His creation -  and wants relationship with us.  I am so blessed to live at a time and location where this truth is readily available to me through the Word written in my language, a country where I am free to worship and grow with other Believers and gather in a church where God's Word is honored and taught.  I believe that following Jesus is the way to salvation and that He has commanded me to love others and tell other people who do not know Him about Him, and love and obey Him exclusively.  I believe in a real hell and a real Heaven.  I know that Heaven is where I will spend eternity when my body fails and dies.  My soul belongs to God and I will see Jesus' face some day.  He has prepared a place for me and those who believe in Him.  I don't know a lot about that place but the Bible says there will be no more tears or pain or dying there.  It also says there will be a banqueting table from which we will eat.  It also says that there will be a representative from every tribe, tongue and nation worshipping together around His throne.  I am excited about that day when I see Jesus' face!  There is so much more that I could share - and so much more that I have to learn and understand. I would die for this conviction.  Peter said the same thing but denied his friend and Lord three times before the cock crowed...hummm.

My second stance I would take is about the sanctity of marriage - mine and yours.  I believe that marriage and family were the first created and God ordained institution - even before the church - and that it is a very serious commitment to God, the parties involved in making vows, the church, and the community.  I believe the perfect plan of God is two - man and woman - vowing to remain exclusive  for a lifetime to work together, live together, love one another, pro-create, and make His name famous among the nations.  I believe outside of these parameters that people ideally are to love God and make Him enough exclusively.  I don't completely understand the multiple wives of Bible days heroes of the Faith, divorce and remarriage, and the modern day take on the nuclear family.  I believe that acting upon homosexual tendencies is a sexual sin but I do not believe it is a sin unto death.  I intend to remain in the marriage of my youth until the day Jesus calls one of us home.  Anything less than that and I will look to Jesus as the one who completes me, never marrying again.  This is a firm conviction.

I surprised myself with the next one.  I have never consumed alcohol and never intend to do so.  My viewpoint of this issue has been developed over a life time.  In my very young years I was exposed to alcoholic behavior through my uncles who partied and used alcohol excessively.  My mother and her sisters were adamantly against its use because of the destruction it had caused in their brothers' lives. I was influenced negatively about any use of alcohol because of my own mother's stance against its use.  I'm not sure if she intended to link it to our religious beliefs but in my mind, it became a part of our family's stance tied to those beliefs.  I thought she really believed that the use of alcohol would send you to hell.  It was a great fear factor.  As I grew up, this perspective probably kept me from experimenting with its use though I was raised in a wet county and my friends around me were using it freely.  I married someone who didn't use alcohol either but his family didn't adhere strictly to the no-use practices that were demanded in my family.  We raised our children in an alcohol-free home and use of it was prohibited.  As Believers in Jesus and Southern Baptist tea-totelers, most of our friends didn't partake either.  At some point in my life, I was convinced that "good christian people" don't drink and that was final.  I was also mistakenly informed (or uninformed) that the Baptist Faith and Message denounced drinking alcohol and promoted abstinence.  Since we were covenant keepers of the BF&M, I thought that we should adhere to the abstinence statement.  It wasn't until we planted a Southern Baptist Church and I read the BF&M cover to cover that I realized it simply isn't in there.  There is no doubt that the Biblical stance on use of alcohol is clear - we are not to drink to the point of drunkenness or be out of control of our minds and bodies. Still, after being better informed and realizing that drinking alcohol would not send you to hell, I am happy with my life choice.  I think my life has been cleaner and less complicated by my abstinence.  I don't have any guilt or shame connected with that choice.  I am becoming more free from my burden of judgement of others associated with my life-long search for reasons that no one should drink alcohol and I am grateful for that.  It is a decision that I choose to continue and don't ever see myself changing - though I might not die for it.

I don't like politics.  I don't form opinions about politicians or political agendas.  I don't care a lot about voting or have a strong conviction that I should.  I will not associate myself with any party.  I don't believe that one party is better or worse than another.  I don't want politics or government issues to be a part of the church that I attend.  In fact, I don't want to celebrate America in my church.  I don't want to have Fourth of July, Memorial Day, or Veterans' Day Celebrations or church sponsored events on Sundays instead of focusing on Jesus.  I don't mind recognizing those who serve and have served and praying for them, but I don't want that to be the focus of any church service I attend.  I want us to celebrate the nations - including our American enemies.  Instead of standing for the United States of American - which I do love - as a matter of pride in my church.  I want to honor the flag and sing The Star Spangle Banner at ballgames, and public events, and in those such public places, hold my head high in support of our country.  I want to stand proudly as an American in the appropriate venues but to stand humbly before my God in all areas of my life and in submission to Him instead of elected officials and the government.

I want to support change in this world that matters.  I want to be a part of the solution for orphan care in our world today.  I want to be actively involved in awareness about modern day slavery in our world today.  I want to see education reform in countries that are plagued by denial of education for under privileged and even those doomed by caste systems.  I want to be an agent of change for those who see animal rights as being just as important as human rights.  I want to support those caught in the political web of environmental rights over-riding the rights of people and their livelihood.  I don't know how to stand for these things, but I want to learn and become more aware of these issues. I can make these problems and evils of the world a matter of prayer for change in hearts. I am aware that I will be viewed as politically incorrect because of some of these statements and I am ok with that.

As I began to think of some of these things, many other things began to occupy my thoughts but I knew that they weren't as important to me as I wanted to think they were, because I wouldn't die for them or take action on them or even care to state my opinion to anyone else about them.  I'm not even really sure I feel strongly enough about the things I've mentioned to keep all of them on my top five list.  I have a feeling that I need to revisit this in a couple of years and see...have my actions matched my words?