Who’s Name Are You Standing Up For?

Do you want to see a player get angry? Call them out and say they don’t have the ability will, or character needed to do the task at hand. This isn’t a newly found behavior…just go to a local playground and watch the response if a child is told the same thing. Have you ever thought that the reward for actively defending your “reputation” wasn’t worth the price to do it? A better alterative is to make sure people know the true nature of the God we serve.

Men like Pharaoh, the Pharisees, and Pilate were all worried about defending their reputation…you can see how that turned out. Men like Joseph and Job were more concerned with obeying God than proving their critics wrong. Shadrach, Meschach, and Abendnego were thrown in a furnace for refusing to worship a god other than the God they served (Daniel 3). The furnace was so hot that it killed the soldiers who placed then in the furnace, but Shadrach, Meschach, and Abendgo walked out unharmed. David was determined to fight Goliath so God could show His glory in taking out this disgraced Philistine who was trying to defy the armies of the living God.

In Elijah’s day, the people of Israel began worshipping Baal…to the point where Elijah was God’s only prophet in Israel (there were 450 Baal prophets). Elijah had a contest with Baal’s prophets to show the people of Israel that God is the ONLY God (1 Kings 18:16-40). Baal’s prophets could not get Baal to light their altar for their sacrifice despite dancing and cutting themselves. Elijah poured water over his altar 3 times and prayed “…let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” God sent fire than burned the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the soil…it even licked up the water in the trench.

We can have 1 of 2 responses when others have a different view or criticize us. We can be about self-preservation/promotion and make it all about ourselves OR we can stop and think how will God be glorified in my response.