A Moment To Praise 2.15.21
Joyce Lochinger, Gravel Hill Worship Leader
Standing Up
My family loves to play the question game, where you ask each other something like: “If you won a million dollars, name three things you would do with it.” No one is allowed to criticize your answers, and everyone gets a turn to answer. It really is a fun game, and it helps you to know your family on a deeper level. It is also amazing to see the different ways that people think and how they reach their conclusions.
For Christmas, we purchased Shawn’s mom a game that had these types of questions and many more printed on cards. These cards were then placed in a cube and sold as the “Family Question Game”! I wish that we would have thought to market our made-up game!
Anyway, the point of my story is this. One of the cards we pulled out and read said, “Have you ever stood up for something or someone?” As others started answering the question, I began to think about my own life experiences. Two significant incidents came to the forefront of my memory.
Observing Others
The first was when I was in middle school (or junior high), and at that time, I was a rather quiet, shy person. However, my sense of justice began to overtake my shy tendencies. Each day, I watched as a group of kids with whom I wasn’t friends as they lined the halls at lunch to torment and make fun of a poor girl in our class who had been severely burned in a fire. She had obvious lingering scars from this traumatic event, as well as some other physical limitations that made walking difficult for her. She was always alone because no one wanted to be associated with someone who bore the brunt of such cruelty and meanness. To make matters worse, the mean kids would throw pennies at her and call her all kinds of horrible names. In fact, most of them didn’t even know her real name.
Taking Action
It broke my heart, and I couldn’t stand watching this behavior. One day, before I could even talk myself out of it, I stooped down, gathered up the pennies and threw them back at the tormentors. I told them to stop it and to treat the girl as they wished to be treated. That moment has been etched in my mind forever. The bullies quickly dispersed as bullies often do when you stand up to them. Not only that, but the incident had called enough attention to itself that action was taken by the school to stop the horrible behavior.
But the only thing I really remember was the look in the girl’s eyes when someone actually stood up for her. It was if time stood still as she stood in the middle of the hall staring at me. We didn’t utter a word to each other, but we looked into each other’s eyes and then she turned away. It still makes me teary-eyed to this day.
Standing Firm
The second time I remember was a few years later when I was in high school, and someone was spouting off about the lack of evidence that Jesus is the Messiah. We happened to be in a Sunday school class together. I know I had sat through that class for weeks while this person disrupted every conversation, every week with some ridiculous argument about what he thought was the ridiculous concept of Jesus as our Savior. Well, as you could tell from the above story, I can have a bit of what I’ll call righteous anger. So, I decided that I wasn’t going to listen to this person’s ramblings against Jesus, and I told him so pretty loudly and firmly.
As I think back on it, I tend to remember my parents wondering what had happened in Sunday School because they had heard that there had been some sort of argument. When they found out that I was involved, we moved very quickly to our pew and sat down. Naturally, I was concerned that they would be upset at me for being disruptive. However, after I told them what had happened, they said, “Good for you! You have to stand up for what you know is right!” Throughout my whole life, they had certainly taught me that Jesus was always in the right!
A Moment To Praise 2.15.21 in Scripture
Those stories bring me back to the question from the game card: “Have you ever stood up for something or someone?” Â I do hope that I would always stand up for Jesus. Here are two scripture passages that tell us to stand firm in the Lord and in our faith.
| 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 – GOD’S WORD Translation
13 Be alert. Be firm in the Christian faith. Be courageous and strong. 14 Do everything with love. |
| Philippians 4:1 – English Standard Version
Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. |
I hope that you are not confronted with someone who openly mocks your faith or belief system. That being said, I do hope that if you come across that situation in your life, you are able to stand up for your God and do it in Christian love. Check out this song, which is an old standby hymn, but with a contemporary feel to it. I could only find the audio version, so there is no video component attached. Even so, it is a great song to listen to. Enjoy, and have a great week!
A Moment To Praise 2.15.21 in Song
| Stand up stand up for Jesus
This version of this hymn “Stand up, stand up for Jesus” has become a big finale tradition at Men’s Katoomba Convention. This recording was done at the 2011… |
Joyce
