A Thought

“Blessed are you when [your enemies] revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven; for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”  Matthew 5:11-12

No one, and no thing, can be a threat to us unless we allow that person or thing an active role in our lives.  We often feel pressured to respond a certain way and sometimes it feels necessary to fight back but the reality is that when we give the devil his due, he stakes a legitimate claim on that portion of our being that responds in a less-than-Christ-like way. 

It is not always necessary to answer the many elements of a secular society that try to provoke or challenge us and what we believe.  Sometimes it is best to just let it die – because the fundamental truth is that a LIE will always DIE a very slow and painful death, taking its advocates down with it.  But a lie that is given attention even when we believe we are opposing it sometimes gains more traction than it has a right to.  This is especially true when we try to respond with a select Bible verse here and there but a verse often taken out of its appropriate context.  It is as someone once said, “A text taken out of its context is a pretext to a false text.”  Bottom line is we are, more often than not, shooting “blanks”.

As “children of God”, we are compelled to take on the active role of “peacemakers” (Mt 5:9) rather than as warriors.  For us this means that when we are confronted with a lie, we simply respond with the Truth who is Christ – that is, the Word of the Lord made flesh.

It will never be easy, but let us also remember that “meek” does not mean “weak”!  It takes much more strength and faith and sense of divine purpose to bite our tongues than to respond to evil with evil.

Stand tall and stand strong; for we do not stand alone!

Blessings

Michael