You don’t get to choose your situation of birth. You just
arrive on the scene and have to make the best of it. It’s part of your
inheritance. You don’t set the stage, but you do have to deal with it. You can
exploit it to your own advantage, cooperate with it to your own comfort, or you
can resist it to help your heirs.
Everybody’s inheritance is loaded. With it you can blow things
up and cause damage, or can use it to fuel positive change.
Some have had the courage to see the problems with the
status quo and worked to make things better. These people made a difference and
left the world a better place. And they all paid a great price. Resisting the
status quo is dangerous business.
- Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat for a white person. She resisted.
- Nelson Mandela went to prison for standing against the apartheid system of South Africa. He resisted.
- Mahatma Gandhi led a movement of freedom for the nation of India as they struggled under British colonialism. He resisted.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer recognized the murderous religious oppression of Nazi Germany. He resisted.
- William Wilberforce worked to change the laws of England to abolish the profitable slave trade. He resisted.
- Abraham Lincoln recognized the moral bankruptcy of American slavery. He resisted.
These people saw the problems of the society they inherited.
And they took a stand. They made a difference. The world is better for their
work.
Think of your own inheritance. Where are the problems? How
can it be better? Effective resistance requires a strong moral foundation, a
clear sense of right and wrong. Commitment to truth puts people on the “right
side of history.” A true moral compass can show us what is wrong with the
world. And with the foundation of truth one can stand against injustice, oppression,
and evil.
Jesus is the Truth. He is the Moral Compass. He resisted. Then he died. Then he arose. He conquered death for us, so there is nothing more to fear.
Will you see the problems in the systems of this world? Will
you take a stand? Will you resist? If so, be prepared to pay a price.
