What’s right and good doesn’t come naturally. You have to stand up and fight for it as if the cause depends on you, because it does.Bill Moyers
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.Edmund Burke
Take your pick. I once shared, “I think it’s easier to write when you’re younger because you have a certain arrogance, a certain confidence. You don’t question your beliefs when you’re young. You look at things in terms of black and white and as I get older, shades of gray tend to creep in. ‘Maybe I’m not 100% right.’ ‘Maybe the other guy’s got a point of view.’ You tend to become a little more rabbinical. The more I find out the less that I know.” James 1:19 says, “Be quick to listen and slow to speak.” It’s a good lesson we learn over and over again. The question becomes, “When do you put your foot down?”
I recently wrote the lyrics, “A lot can be said about making the bed that we sleep in; drawing a line before others define who you are.” I tread heavily in an environment filled with ambition trumps relationships trumps ethics, etc. I’ve seen kids, parents and colleagues alike bend at will with stars in their eyes to the power of ambition.
Some folks refuse to eat meat. Some refuse to step foot on the internet or jump on the social networking bandwagon. Some folks refuse to eat at a particular restaurant as a result of poor service. My wife recently lifted her very own personal boycott on Pizza Hut after a terrible experience. I still give her jazz about it. It’s unfortunate the frivolous battles we choose and the virtuous battles we choose not to fight as Christians. My “boycotts” are far between and few and often passive protests in the spirit of something JFK once said, “It is in the American tradition to stand up for one’s rights, even if the new way to stand up for one’s rights is to sit down.”
Folks aren’t likely to quit eating because of a bad meal, but most of us know someone who stopped eating a certain food or going to a certain restaurant. Would you ask a food-poisoned person to keep ordering the same dish at the same restaurant or would you acknowledge his right to consider alternatives? When someone experiences spiritual “food poisoning,” is it their duty to keep coming back for more? Quite often the answer seems to be “yes.”
Although I wasn’t a fan of the late Jerry Falwell, his son said something recently that makes a lot of sense.
It has become common in the modern culture for people to defend wrongdoers when those individuals are members of their team or their political party or their family. Sadly, I have seen this culture even invade the church.
So what’s the problem? I chiefly see this as a dilemma that can infect our children while further serving to break down our national morality.
Let’s examine a hypothetical situation. Let’s say a father is a lifelong Boston Red Sox fan who has raised his son to also be a loyal team supporter. When it is revealed that Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz have used illegal performance-enhancing drugs, the father says, ‘That’s okay. Those guys are part of our team.’
The son’s views on baseball, sportsmanship and even the law are affected by the father’s sentiment. Does the son grow up thinking it is alright to defend others’ misdeeds or even his own wrongdoing? Maybe drinking and driving, cheating on his taxes, cheating on his wife? Sin often begins small but the cycle can become unbreakable.
We need to teach our kids that misconduct bears, or at least should bear a cost. Our personal ethics should not be attached to who is affected by what we believe. Rather, our ethics should remain in place no matter whom or what is affected by those standards. Ethics that change with the situational tides are not ethics at all; they are policies of convenience.
As a Christian father, I find myself continually examining my life to ensure that I am a living example to my children, who are certainly scrutinizing my actions more than I realize. I don’t want to ever send the wrong message to them through my carelessness or self-serving ways of life. My personal ethics should be based on God’s Word, which does not change, and not on the existential policies of man that are constantly compromised.
I Corinthians 10:31 says, ‘Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.’ (NKJV).
As Christians, we need to take this verse very seriously. Instead of being wishy-washy people who will selfishly counteract our ethics or our doctrines on a whim, we must live joyous and holy lives that point to Jesus Christ as the lone source of our personal conduct. That’s the ethical core our children must see every time they observe us through their always watchful eyes.Jerry Falwell, Jr.
I think there is this idea that standing up for something means you have to chain yourself to a tree or march in circles for twelve hours with a goofy sign. It can be as simple as turning your attention to something or someone else. I often think of it in terms of television. Change the channel! If we don’t contribute to the ratings, they’ll seriously reconsider their programming. Think the opposite of Nike’s famous slogan, “Just don’t do it.”
And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave as a testimony against them.Mark 6:11
I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.Abraham Lincoln
