FOR

I like this word, especially when we have so much negativity swirling around us.  So many causes.  So many victims.  So much negativity (and I can get caught up in that).  I prayed this morning for God to deliver us from all of the 'isms' that divide us.  And, as I walked with my friends Freddie and Tanner on Saturday I thought of this little word ... FOR.

If you watch talk TV you will quickly find out what people are against.  It seems that shrill voices speak out against almost everything.  Jesus reminded us that one of those things was His followers.  In John 17:14 Jesus says that "I have given them your word and the world has hated them."  Yes ... we are opposed, persecuted and even hated.  This world is against us because powers, principalities and evil forces cannot tolerate who we worship and what we represent.  But as we walked Saturday I am sure people thought we were marching because we were against something.  We weren't!

So we started thinking ... how could we turn this negativity around?  My idea was a T-shirt that said FOR ...  Family Of the Redeemer.  It may not be the best acronym ever, but I hope you can catch on to the general concept.  What if we became known for what we are for?  What if we claimed as family everyone who called on the name of Jesus as their Lord, Savior and Redeemer?  Would that have a power to change our community, our neighborhoods, our State and our Country?

If you haven't figured this out, we have some massive problems, and many stem from our national pension (and respect) for stubbornness over listening and ideology over our Christian faith.  James reminds us that 'faith without works is dead' (James 2:14).  And this aspect of our faith (love as Jesus has loved) is vital if Jesus is going to become an ever growing and positive part of life in America.

What are you for? What am I for?  What did Jesus call us to be for?  What say you?  Randy