The cake and the court case
Everyone who wants to live a godly life in union with Christ Jesus will be persecuted; and evil persons and impostors will keep on going from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived themselves. 2 Timothy 3 : 12 - 13 (GNB) |
You may have heard in the news that a bakery in Northern Ireland who recently lost a discrimination case. The case against the bakery related to them refusing to bake a cake carrying a message that the owners felt was against their Christian beliefs. This case is a perfect modern day example of our verse for this week.
God intends for his people to live lives that reflect his goodness, and follow his views and standards during our daily lives. He wants us to stand firm to these standards even when it makes us feel uncomfortable or goes against the social-norm.
We know that God's views and standards are very different from the ones held by society in general. In fact in some cases they are completely incompatible. The Bible frequently illustrates the differences between God's people and everyone else. On many of these occasions the illustration shows the polar opposites of light and darkness.
With this in mind it would be very tempting to say "Let's avoid tension and upset lets not make a fuss let's just go along with everyone else". However this is not the answer, following other people doing bad things does not make them any less bad, it simply drags you down with them.
What's more simply ignoring something that you know to be wrong can be equally harmful. Evil can only be stopped by good, so make a stand to bring goodness and wisdom into the situation. History has shown on many occasions that simply ignoring evil does not suppress or contain it. This simply allows it to grow and develop. The only way to make a change is through making a positive stand.
This week, hopefully you won't encounter a situation where you need to, but be strong and stand by what you know to be right. Have a great week.
There are some links below to the story featured in this weeks article below.
This week's song is Good Fight by Unspoken |
Header image by: jeffreyw via Flickr