What do you stand for? The answer these days seems to be increasingly an emphatic NOTHING! You can’t make me stand. Why should I stand? I won’t stand! I’m protesting. It makes me think of the Arron Tippin song “you got to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything. You’ve got to be your own man not a puppet on a string. Never compromise what’s right and uphold your family name.” So I wonder, what do you stand for?
Obviously this is a hot topic question these days, even having a presidential weigh in! What do you stand for? The Flag? The National Anthem, God? Biblical Truth? Morality? You may even think I don’t have to stand for anything! It’s too politically charged to stand. It’s too dangerous to stand because everybody is against everything these days. It’s uncomfortable to stand so I’d rather sit. But do you realize when nobody stands up for anything, everything goes? Bullies can get away with bulling anybody and everybody. Why? Because nobody will take a stand against them. Lies and deceit can be peddled as truth unabated. Why? Because nobody will take a stand against it. Morality and Biblical Truth go down the drain and nobody batts an eye. Why? Because nobody is taking a stand for it. SO why not stand for something worthy?
I remember in kindergarten class, 5 years old in Austin Texas, I was taught to stand for the pledge of allegiance to our Country and Flag. Since that time, I have stood for the Flag. I have always been proud to be an American. Why? Because we stood for what was right. We stood for what was good. We stood for what was Truth and Holy and Righteous. We as Americans, we as Christians, made a difference in the world because we chose to stand for what God declared was GOOD and against that which was evil.
I was taught to stand for the National Anthem as a young boy as was everyone in my age group. I played sports in school and you better believe we proudly stood when they played the National Anthem. When I went to civic events we all stood for the National Anthem. As a Cub Scout and later a Boy Scout, we all stood for the pledge of allegiance and the National Anthem. At high school and college graduations we all proudly stood for the National Anthem. At military and political events, we all stood for the National Anthem. All of my life until these recent troubled times when ever, where ever the Star Spangled Banner was played everyone gladly and proudly stood up and knowing we were part of this great country.
I was taught to stand for God and His word in church at an early age too. In school we started the day with the pledge of allegiance and then followed it with the Lord’s Prayer. We attended church as a family and learned about God, compassion, prayer, love, mercy and grace. I understood and experienced that there was evil in the world. I also understood and experienced that there is good in the world. It takes a blind eye not to see that we live in a fallen world. It takes an equally blind eye not to see that there is a God, a creator of all that is. Not to see that God is good, but that there is a battle raging for the hearts and minds of mankind. Not to see sin is rampant and evil is growing in scope and influence at an unimaginable rate. But we were not blind and so we stood for God and His word
As I see it the simple truth is this, whether we stand or sit idly by there is right and there is wrong – like two opposing sides of a coin. There is truth and there are lies. There is God and there is the serpent in the garden. There is a heavenly kingdom and there is a fallen world. There is good and there is evil. And every person makes a choice and will be aligned with one or the other. Every person will be consenting to one or the other, whether you stand in consent or sit and consent in absentia or indifference. So, I ask again, what do you stand for?
As Joshua said,
“If serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve”, whether the false gods of political correctness, inclusion, non-offense, or money and greed, or the self-serving lawlessness of the land you are living in.
“But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD”.
We will stand for the Flag, and for the National Anthem. We will stand for God, for Biblical Truth, for righteousness. We will stand against evil in all its forms. We will stand against Tyranny and oppression. We will stand against political incorrectness and injustice perpetrated by lawless politicians and judges who seek to destroy our great nation from within. We will stand and proclaim biblical truth and faithfully follow Jesus Christ, the son of the living God for as long as we have breath. We will stand together on the solid rock as brothers and sisters. Won’t you stand with us?