What are you willing to stand for today? People take a stand for a variety of things. Some examples are politics, animal rights, health issues, and individual freedoms and rights.
What exactly does it mean to take a stand? The Free Dictionary defines it this way: “To take up or maintain a specified position, altitude, or course.” Wonderopolis says “Standing… is active. When you stand, you take action. That’s why standing is associated with believing in and supporting a cause.”
Isaiah 7:9b in the NIV says “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” The Message puts it this way: “If you don’t take your stand in faith, you won’t have a leg to stand on.” And finally, the King James Versions says “If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.”
All of these translations imply choice and action. God could have made us love Him and taken the choice from us, but who wants to be loved by force. That isn’t love. Love is a decision. We must choose to love another and when we choose to love the other person, we demonstrate it through our actions, what we say and do.
What are your actions saying about how you feel about God? Would others look at your life- the things you say, the things you do, what you give yourself to, what you invest your resources in, what breaks your heart- and determine you are a lover and follower of Jesus? The Word clearly tells us in Matthew 7:21-23 there will be people who will come face to face with Jesus claiming to know Him and He will say “I never knew you.” There wouldn’t be enough evidence to support their claim of knowing Him and serving Him through words and deeds.
My pastor, Tom Tanner, tells a story of feeling convicted to literally take a stand for Jesus at a church service so he stood up in his chair. He said he knew it was weird, but he also knew God told him to do it. There was only one other person in that church standing in their chair and it was his wife. Sometimes God may call you to do some really radical things. If you love Him, nothing is too great for Him to ask of you. He stopped at nothing to take a stand for you and me. What will you do? The choice is ours. We’ll all give ourselves to something and take a stand for it, either God or self.
There’s an old hymn that should be the mantra of believers: “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.” The only sure foundation we can stand on without slipping is Christ. In 2 Samuel 22:2-3 David declares “”The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior– from violent men You save me.” God said David was a man after His own heart [1 Samuel 13:14].
What is your heart after? What are you pursing? If it isn’t Jesus, then you won’t be standing long.