Words of Life: An Enduring Legacyনমুনা

Standing your ground.

The whole town is terrorised by a black-hearted villain and his unpleasant sidekicks. The last three law enforcers have been run out of town. The honest citizens try to employ a professional gunslinger, who turns out to be a drunken coward. The baddies become even more threatening and demanding. A lone shopkeeper speaks out against the gang and receives a beating for his trouble. His wife pleads with him to stop before something else happens. He refuses on principle, and broken-hearted she leaves on the next stagecoach. Now it’s just the shopkeeper against the whole gang.

In the blazing sun he steps out…

It’s the stuff of a dozen ‘Western’ films. Will the townsfolk join him? Will the drunken gunslinger sober up and protect them? Will he survive? Will his wife return? Who else may suddenly turn up? Will law and order be finally established? Who knows…?

It all seems so easy watching the drama played out on the silver screen; the day-to-day business of upholding principles is a lot harder, especially if one feels alone and unsupported.

Jesus, who knew what it was like to stand alone against hostility from various sources, told his followers that they too would one day face opposition.

We may physically be on our own, but when we stand our ground on godly principles, the truth stands with us. When Rosa Parks, an African[1]American, courageously refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, she knew there would be consequences. And there were; she was arrested. Peaceful demonstrations and protests by civil rights groups were met with violence from the authorities and more arrests. But eventually, change came.

‘Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King could walk. King walked so Jesse Jackson could stand. Jackson stood so that Obama could run. Obama’s running so we all can fly.’

Who knows who might be influenced for good when they see us speaking and acting for right?