Take a Stand
As Christian, we must take a stand, if we are to help The Lord change our world.
Our theme for today’ readings is: Faith and Unbelief
From our Sunday Missal:
“We are often asked to take a stand, be it concerning politics, the education of the children, or the way work should be done. Taking a stand, especially one concerning a controversial issue, may involve opposition. Christians are asked to take a stand quite often.
“In today’s Gospel, the writer of John brings out a wealth of suggestions. Let us consider one. How do people react to our Lord’s message? Christianity offers beautiful and efficient outlines for a better society with promises of life to come. Christianity is not something one can sweep under the rug and ignore as nonexistent. It is there! One must take a stand.
“The Gospel shows us the parents of the blind man (who do not want to be involved), the neighbors (who are indifferent or unconcerned), the Pharisees (who do not believe), and the blind man himself (a believer). Where do you stand? You are a baptized Christian. Does The Lord Jesus and the philosophy of life He stands for have real impact on your lifestyle?
“Each of the four categories mentioned in the Gospel is found in today’s society. Each promotes its own outlook by work and life-style. You must take a stand.”
Yes, we need to take a stand because The Lord needs us to help His mission.
The Lord must have considered His mission very important, otherwise He would not have agreed to die on the cross. Here again are His two important missions:
1. To bring people back to God and live with Him in eternity.
2. To change our world for the better.
As an example, I believed I have to take a stand on these two social issues:
1. I personally does not favor our country, in particular, our city by the Bay Area converted into a gambling city… Casinos proliferating all over.
Our Lord said: “No one can serve two masters; for he will either hate one and love the other, or he will be loyal to the first and look down on the second. You cannot at the same time serve God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)
What The Lord is saying is that if you love the casinos, your heart will be very far from God. If you love God, your heart will not have a liking for the casinos.
We need to tell our people the truth where true happiness for the long term may be found. After all this is what everyone is longing and looking for. The ultimate need and longing of our hearts will not be satisfied or found in the casinos. Casinos may even lead us to other vices, such as drugs, sex, alcoholism or greed for more money, or even money laundering, which are already associated with big crimes. It may also be the cause of broken families or even suicide.
Even if the casinos will contribute to our economy, it is not enough reason to justify its existence. As The Lord said: “What profits a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul.”
This is similar to sex tourism. We should never sacrifice the sacredness of our women for the sake of economic development.
2. I also believed motorcycles are not good for our country. The statistics for motorcycles accidents are far too many. So many families lost their love ones.
Man is created in the likeness and image of God and has the potentials for life in eternity, which means The Lord considers human life far too precious. We as human beings should value this gift of life. As a way of thanking The Lord for that supreme gift of life, we should be extra careful in preserving that life. We can see this in parents on how they took good care of their children from the moment they were born to the time they are adults. Thus it is important that our national policies should reflect these values.
In our company, we don’t use motorcycles. We also explain to our people why we do not allow it and discourage them from using it. We must translate our Christian values to everyday life if we are to help The Lord in His mission to change our world.
The purpose of the church is to change the world. We as Baptized Christians is the church.
Whenever we take a stand, we should bear in mind that it should always be something that will contribute to our Lord’s mission. Also the possibility of opposition. But more important, let us be assured that we are not alone or left behind in this mission. As The Lord said: “All power in Heaven and on Earth has been given to me. Go, therefore,…. I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20). If we always follow His will, then we can expect that things will end up favorable to us.
The Spirit of The Lord (The Holy Spirit) is with us and will always be. Each one of us is but a small contributor (but equally important) in our Lord’s mission. The Holy Spirit working behind the scene coordinates the whole project (as Saint Paul reminded us, there is only but one Spirit). Daily, thousands or millions of God’s people all over the world, in their own way, take a stand and contributes to The Lord’s mission. Also let us not forget the communion of Saints.
Holy Week will start on April 9, Palm Sunday.
Happy Sunday, rest day to everyone !