Watching your children grow is thrilling, sobering, rewarding, and heartbreaking all at the same. As they begin to make their own decisions and form their own opinions, evolving into mini-versions of the "grown-ups" they will one day be, I find myself struggling with very different emotions. Most of the time, I feel happy: happy that they have chosen to share, happy that they were nice to the friendless child at school, happy that they ate their broccoli, happiest of all that my oldest made the decision to be baptized into Christ a few months ago. Sadness is certainly the underdog. If I could make a sweeping generalization, I would say that the sad times are most often characterized by what seems to be a methodical chipping away at their innocence.
The world bombards us with images of abuse, hatred, and evil. I find myself having to field questions from my children that I don't want to answer: "Why can't we talk to strangers?", "What does the devil look like?", and most recently, "Why would that man shoot all of those people?". Looking into the eyes of my children as I feebly try to explain the concept of "sin", I can't help but imagine the devil getting a kick out of the whole exchange. Quite honestly, he's really getting on my nerves. The sadness is starting to melt away and what's left is a seething anger....not with my children, but rather with the evil forces that are incessantly striving to win them over. This mom is not going to let that happen, or at least I'm ready to put up an ugly fight.
As Christians, we know I Peter 3:15, maybe not by memory but certainly by concept: "But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect." Simply stated, always be ready to defend your faith. This verse is served up quite often when we talk about our responsibility as Christians in the world, and rightfully so!
I wonder if we could start adding a whopping spoonful of Jude 3, on the side? Jude writes, "Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." Here, Jude isn't calling on his readers to "defend" the faith....he is calling on them to "contend" for it! Consider this definition of the word "contend": to engage in a competion or campaign in order to win or achieve something. Yes, we need to stand ready to defend our faith, but we also need to be actively competing for it! We need to put some offensive strategy into this battle we're fighting against the devil.
I'm determined to put a little Captain America into my battle plan! He uses his shield to protect him from his enemies but he also handles it like a weapon and can take down the bad guys before they have a chance to attack. We have a shield too.....a shield of faith (Ephesians 6:16), and I challenge us, as Christians, to use our shield in this battle of "good vs. evil", no holds barred. Let's not be defenders only....let's be initiators, challengers, warriors for the cause of Christ!
(Thank you, Mom, for inspiring this post.....I'm so blessed to have a mother who is a both a defender and a contender!! Love you!)
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