Stand Up; Speak Up!

Stand Up; Speak Up!

I could feel the blood pulsing in my cheeks as my face turned red with a combination of anger and embarrassment. I had just officiated a memorial service for a family from our church. I stood with them in the small chapel of the local funeral home and sought to give them pastoral comfort and care as they continued to express their grief over the loss of their dearly departed loved one.

A seemingly harmless little old lady approached me with “questions” concerning what I had said about the current state of the deceased relative—the fact that this believer had gone to be with the Lord. At first I thought she had honest questions for which she was truly seeking answers. I politely began to answer. It soon became apparent that she had another agenda. She blindsided me with an attack on my doctrine.

I found myself—right there in the funeral home chapel—in a heated dispute as this woman confronted me over what I had said in a memorial message! It was the wrong context for a debate, but, having been ambushed, there I was, struggling to defend my theology concerning life-after-death. The grieving family looked on.

It became apparent that the little old lady was prepared for a fight. I wasn’t—not with a little old lady at a funeral! I was torn between politely telling her to shut up (after all, she was being totally inappropriate) and defending what I believed. I was thrown off-balance and she took advantage of that fact! She let go with both barrels! She pummeled me with verse-after-verse (out of context, of course) supporting her view.

In my anger and shock, I found it almost impossible to respond, much less fire back with biblical support for my perspective. I knew the Scriptures backed me up but I just couldn’t seem to bring the verses to my lips. By now several family members had encircled us, uncomfortably awaiting my awkward response. Red-faced, I simply said something like, “Lady, you don’t want answers. You think you have them all!” Boy, I showed her! Then, I left. Not quite the decisive, crowd-pleasing, defeating blow I needed.

I can’t remember a time in my life when Christianity has been so blatantly and publicly questioned and criticized as it is today. Several high-profile atheists have bestselling books out, bashing God, religion and especially Christianity. Talk show hosts have no qualms about trying to embarrass interviewees that may be people of faith, specifically—Christians. From the military to the classroom to the courtroom and the workplace, Jesus is being derided and even banned. And this, in a country which was founded on Judeo-Christian faith and principles.

However, before you get dismayed, realize that this may be great news! In reality, secularism is on its deathbed and is gasping for air. Atheism simply doesn’t work or make sense. Cults are withering under the bright light of truth. That’s why the proponents of these doomed philosophies are going on the offensive. They’re desperate!

Interestingly, around the world, faith in the supernatural is exploding. As Christian apologist, Dinesh D’Souza writes, there is a, “global revival of religion.” He points out that “secularism is increasingly unimportant as a global phenomenon.” He states that the most modern countries are experiencing a kind of religious revival; mainly Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. People need hope, so they’re turning in droves to the spiritual. Atheistic secularism provides no hope. Other religions provide false hope. When people go searching for God, they may not find Him. Instead, they might end up believing in a counterfeit.

Will you be ready when people ask—even confront—you about your faith? Can you help them (including hostile little old ladies) understand that in Christ and Christ alone, we have “the knowledge of the mystery of God” (Colossians 2:2)? You and I get to show the world what real hope looks like; living and breathing hope. Let’s prepare ourselves to stand up and speak up! After all, we have exactly what they really need and most don’t yet know it. You can change that.
“Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth” ─Ephesians 6:14 NKJV