Defiance

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Hebrews 11:23 tells us, "By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment."  Pharaoh, King of Egypt, the most powerful man in the world at that time, had ordered that all male Israelite children be killed.  Did Moses' parents meekly obey the law of the land and let the government kill their child?  No!  They defied the king's decree.  They knew there is a higher law, the Law of God.  

Many times when we ask why we should or should not do certain things, the only explanation given us is, "It's the law."  In an episode of the Would You Fall for That? show, the staff once dressed authoritatively, placed a divider on a footbridge, and held a sign saying all brunettes had to walk on one side and all blondes on the other side.  Most people obeyed the orders without question.

In an episode of Candid Camera, the staff walked into an elevator with a man and all faced backward, pretty soon the man was facing backward too.  The staff took their hats off and he did the same; he followed every motion everyone else did, trying not to be conspicuous.



People are trained to be conformists.  But just because a government or authority says something is right doesn't make it right.  Just because everyone else does something doesn't mean it's the correct thing to do.  At the Nuremberg trials many Nazis used the excuse "I was just following my superior's orders" to explain the crimes which they committed against humanity.  This excuse was not deemed valid.  Every person is responsible for his or her own actions.  

We were not created just to "follow orders" and do what everyone else is doing.  We must think for ourselves and weigh the laws of man using the ethical scale provided by the Bible, our moral compass.  Evil people (and governments) call evil good and slander the good as evil.  We need to keep our eyes open and be willing to defy ungodly authority and stand up for what is right.

The heroes and heroines of history have not been those who lackadaisically watched the sunset as their principles blew across barren fields like tumbleweed, turning one way and then another with every gust of wind.  The heroes have been those who stood firm in their beliefs, those who would rather die than compromise, and those who lived not for themselves, but for God and posterity.  

Don't be afraid to challenge injustice.  Place your faith in the Word of God (Jesus Christ), defy evil, and even if you are the only one who does, stand up for the truth.     

3 comments:

  1. Love this, Bethany!
    A laughable reminder that we are called to be a peculiar people whose lives are molded by the Spirit, not the world.

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  2. oh, forgot to sign my name! : )

    <3 KSJ

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