...running the course God sets before us, no matter the cost, no matter the task, to the end, for His glory
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Monday, July 11, 2011

And the Verdict Is....

If someone was out to take me to court, what could they find to accuse me of? And would it be easy to prove I am guilty of the alleged crime?

Lately, many people around the country have been completely mesmerized by the Casey Anthony trial and now most find themselves completely enraged by the verdict which seems so wrong. I am old enough to remember with exact clarity the moment of the OJ Simpson verdict (I was in a Taco Bell drive-thru) and the sense of injustice that verdict brought.

But just recently I was thinking about being brought to trial myself after reading my friend's blog where she posted this quote:

If I were accused in court of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict me?

What a great question- disturbing, but great. Is there enough evidence in my life that there would be no doubt to anyone who looked at me that I am a Christian?

But that question got taken a bit further for me during my Daniel study this week when I read about how some men in Babylon who were jealous of Daniel were trying to get rid of him:

Then these men said, "We shall not find any ground of accusation against this
Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God.
Dan. 6:5

So apparently not only could Daniel been found guilty of being a Believer in Jehovah as the first quote asked, but according to this THAT IS THE ONLY THING THEY COULD ACCUSE HIM OF!

Just think about it! The only way that these men could bring Daniel down was to make his belief and the practice of his belief in the One, True God illegal. There was NOTHING else to bring against him!

Could that be said of me?

Could that be said of you?

But, back to Daniel.

After he knows that evil men have set out to entrap him, what do you think Daniel does? Does he go "into his prayer closet" to pray so no one will see him? Does he keep his devotion to God hidden so that no one can catch him?

No. He goes to the big window on the roof chamber (you know- up high, where everyone can see), just like he always had, and prayed. Just like he always had.

Just like his enemies hoped he would. Because they wrote the law just so his consistent devotion to God would make it impossible for him to not break the law. In fact, Daniel's consistent devotion to God was their only hope of bringing him down.

And they did bring him down.

Straight into the lion's den. 

Of course that is not the end of the story. God sent His angel (Dan. 6:22) to shut the mouths of the lions and to protect him so that,
no injury whatever was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.
Dan. 6:23

In many places around the world Believers have to make a Daniel-like decision every day because for them to choose to believe and to choose to follow God means to choose to be willing to face the lions. And often the "mouths of the lions" are not shut.

In America....

In America, we think we are suffering for Jesus if we still go to church when the air conditioning doesn't work.

We have both the blessing and the curse of living in a country where we can believe and live out that belief to a certain degree and it can cost us nothing.

We won't lose our homes.
We won't lose our jobs.
We won't lose our children.
We won't lose our lives.

At least, not yet.

But the day may come......

But whatever happens in the future, whatever it may someday cost to live as a Christian in our country, the decision I have before me now is how will I live today.

Today I want to live in such a way that the court would have such overwhelming evidence against me that they would have to find me guilty of being a Christian. There would be no other option.

I want to live in such a way that if I have enemies who want to find me guilty of something THE ONLY THING they can find to accuse me of is my belief in and my devotion to Jesus Christ.

What about you. What do you want to be found guilty of?


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