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Thursday, March 26, 2015

Dare to Tell the Truth

Truth or Dare?  I remember playing this game as a kid.  Deciding whether to pick truth or dare had a few deciding factors.  The first factor was the people you were playing with.  How well did you trust them with your truths and how mean would they be with a dare?  The second factor was peer pressure.  If everyone was yelling, "Dare! Dare! Dare!" it was pretty difficult to say, "Truth."  I'm finding as an adult and as a Christian the rules have changed.  Now telling the Truth is a dare.  Unfortunately, the Christian community all too often is losing.  In a society driven by political correctness, it takes a daring person to stand up and tell the Truth. 

For me, as a Bible believing Christian, all truth is based on the Truth of the Word of God.  I'm a pretty "black and white" person.  I don't usually fall into a "gray" area on my beliefs.  I've been called a "truth teller" and "honest to a fault" so I know I may not be typical.  I believe that the Bible is the only source of Truth, "God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness."  2 Timothy 3:16. 

That brings me to the point of this post.  Christians are failing (me included) at standing up and speaking Truth.  We are allowing the fear of opposition to silence the Truths of God.  We are so afraid of offending someone or being politically incorrect, that we have lost our boldness. 

Let me just say here that we have a true enemy and he is very good at what he does.  He is a deceiver and has been mastering the art of deception since the beginning of time.  When he deceived Eve in the garden, he didn't come as a scary red man with horns and a pitch fork, he came as a beautiful, crafty creature.  He didn't come right out and say, "Eat this fruit!"  He planted seeds of doubt.  Then he followed up with lies and excuses and ultimately an appealing offer she could not refuse.  By the time she realized she had been deceived, it was too late and the fate of all human kind had been sealed.  Genesis 3:1-7.  We are now dealing with the repercussions of this fall. 

We are living in a world that has be craftily deceived.  The things our society is now accepting as
"truth" have been slowly spoon fed to us for generations, numbing us to the lies and deception.  What once would have been considered detestable and an abomination are now considered rights and ways of life.  At the same time, Christians have been fed the lies that we should not stand up against those things which are contrary to God's Word, because when we do we are labeled "bigots, haters, intolerant, old fashioned, hypocrites, and much worse."  So frankly, many Christians aren't willing to take the opposition and choose to keep their views and convictions to themselves.  Trust me, I know, it's easy to do.  When you're scrolling through Facebook and you see someone has posted something that will cause controversy the claws come out.  People can be downright mean.  Instead of standing beside those brave enough to speak up against the wrongs in society, we scroll on by glad it's them and not us being ripped apart.  We're not willing to stick our necks out and take some of the heat off of the person who posted.  I've been there, done that.  What about the times when you really want to post something that you believe in, yet you think twice because you're afraid of offending someone who doesn't hold your same beliefs?(This may be one of those times for me.)  What do you do in the work place or in a group of friends who are talking about something that you oppose?  Do you have the fortitude to stand up and state your beliefs?  It's hard!  It's really hard when you are standing alone! 

God has been working on my heart in this area.  I hope this gives you something to think about as well.  I've only scratched the surface, but it's a good place to start. :)

So, I ask you:

Why do we find it so hard to speak up? 
Why are we ashamed of what we believe? 
Why do we care what other people think of us when it's Christ we answer to? 
Why do we care more about being politically correct, than biblically correct? 
Why do we sit around saying nothing, while those whose agenda is totally against everything we believe spread their propaganda to every news source available? 
Why are we apathetic? 
Why Christians? 
Why are we silent?


It's time we speak up! 
It's time we are bold!
It's time we focus on Christ!
It's time will know what the Word of God says!
It's time we stand up for our Christian values!
It's time we take action!
It's time we speak Truth in love!
Come on!
I dare you!

In His Debt,
Lorissa

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