On the Outside Looking In

Life sure is getting messy these days.  I don’t know about the rest of y’all, but our nation seems to have accelerated into a whirlwind of immorality over the last year.  With all of the turmoil, my apologies, ‘progress’ that has been made toward gender equality, the most basic morality has simply been tossed out the back door.

I have found the song titled “The Outsiders” by Need to Breathe to be a nice representation of where we, as Christians, stand in today’s culture.  Those of us who have chosen to follow Jesus Christ have definitely been shoved into the realm of political incorrectness due to our conservative beliefs and focus on right versus wrong (the new right).  It seems that everything that we consider right is now wrong, but as the song so eloquently puts it, “just ‘cause I’m wrong it don’t make you right…no, you ain’t right!”

There are times when all I can do is shake my head in disbelief and laugh.  Just as the song exclaims - “cause if you’re not laughing, who is laughing now?”  As grave of a situation that we find our nation in, we can rest assured that Jesus has already won!  As long as we focus on this fact, nothing that this world throws our way can steal His everlasting joy from us despite their efforts at doing so.

The book of Revelation shows us that our world will only continue to digress as it turns further and further away from the Bible.  And those of us who follow Christ will be mocked, slandered and laughed at for our faith and extreme ‘intolerance’ towards the ways of the world.  As our biblical foundation continues to be chiseled away out from under us, the question is “if we stop sinking, could we stand our ground?” 

I like to replace ‘could’ with ‘would’ in that verse while I am singing along.  I believe that it is a matter of will, a choice that we must make to step up and defend the Truth that we stand by.  We must take the kind of stand as proclaimed in the song, “I’m not leaving without a fight.  I’ve got my holster around my side.”  We are about to find ourselves embedded in a lopsided battle, and we need to be grounded in our faith and rooted in His word like never before.  

So where does this ridiculous movement end?  I know that we haven’t seen the end of it, but I am back to shaking my head and laughing as to what absurd thing is going to happen next.  I have simply accepted what Need to Breathe concludes when they sing - “and through everything we’ve learned, we’ve finally come to terms…we are the outsiders.” Yes, we certainly have become outsiders, seemingly on the wrong side of history, but each of us are owners of the freedom that this world is longing for.

Here's the song if you want to listen:  https://player.vimeo.com/video/173791676

Scott