No Time for Passivity by Michael L. Brown for Ask Dr Brown
It is 11:45 PM Tuesday night as I sit here in front of my computer, having just responded to some emails and after finishing some editorial work on an academic project. But I’m a late night person, and there’s still plenty of time to work. So, as I often do, I take a moment to pray, asking the Lord, “Is there anything You want me to write?” Immediately I hear the words (in my thoughts, not audibly), “No time for passivity.”
Now, to be perfectly clear, I am not claiming special inspiration for this article. I’m simply saying that, as often happens when I pray about what to write, a thought comes strongly to mind.
If you find the theme of this article relevant or helpful, great.
Now is your chance to support Gospel News Network.
We love helping others and believe that’s one of the reasons we are chosen as Ambassadors of the Kingdom, to serve God’s children. We look to the Greatest Commandment as our Powering force.
The simple truth is that we are in a war. An ideological war. A spiritual war. A moral and cultural war. A war that, in many ways, is even more real than a physical war.
The soul of our nation is at stake. The future of our children and grandchildren is on the line. The fate of tens of millions of people hangs in the balance. This is certainly no time for passivity!
Instead, it is a time for action. For resolve. For courage. For tenacity. For faith. For determination.
It is time for the weak to become strong and for the strong to become stronger.
It is time for the weary to be renewed and for the warriors to be reinvigorated.
It is time to stop making excuses and to stop feeling sorry for ourselves.
It is a time for encouraging rather than complaining and for strategizing rather than blaming.
Yes, we’re tired. Yes, things are messed up. Yes, life seems out of control. Yes, the odds against us at times seem overwhelming.
But that is what this world says. That is what our circumstances proclaim. That is the perspective of this earth.
What does God’s Word say? What do His promises proclaim? What is the perspective from heaven?
Remember that, during times of great crisis when God’s purposes came under great attack, the Bible says this: “He who sits in the heavens laughs! He holds His enemies in derision!” (See Psalm 2.)
When Hezekiah and the people of Judah were about to be destroyed by the mighty and brutal Assyrians, the prophet Isaiah sent the king a simple message: “The king of Assyrian is not fighting against you but against Me! You will shake your head at him and his armies as they flee.” (See Isaiah 37-38.)
It is the same with us now. We may feel outnumbered. (For a reality check, just imagine what it feels like to be a Christian in Afghanistan. Or North Korea. Just saying.) We may feel like throwing in the towel (or, at the least, taking a break from the front lines). We may even feel paralyzed by so many battles on so many fronts, starting with the battle for our own lives. And for our families and friends. And for our churches and cities. And for our nation. And for the world.
Where do we even start? And what about our own personal failures over the years? What about all the prayers we prayed that were never answered? What about all our shattered expectations? Why get our hopes us again?
But what else can we do? Put another way, how can we not get our hopes up again? How can we not stand and fight for what is right? How can we sit idly by while a generation is destroyed? How can we afford to lose any more ground?
