Which Way Will You Swim?
by Jeremy Brown
I was recently listening to a motivational speaker, and she said something that goes with the Christian struggle. The speaker said, “Any dead fish can float down stream with the current, but it takes a live fish to swim upstream against the current!” Where are you in your Christian life? Are you just going along with the crowd doing what’s popular and ignoring what God commands us to do (Proverbs 4:2)? Many times in our nation we see those who claim to be Christian going completely against what the Holy Bible and God have to say regarding what is right and wrong. We can look back in our nation’s history and see the many times Christians should have taken a stand and spoken out against the evils of society, but they didn’t. Instead, they allowed it to happen or even took part in things they knew were wrong (Proverbs 9:6).
There are shocking trends going on today in our nation as we speak. The United States Air Force is removing a phrase that contains God off of its entire aircraft fleet. Atheists are fighting to have “In God We Trust” removed from American currency. A female United States Marine was given a dishonorable discharge because she refused to remove a biblical scripture from her office desk because her commander didn’t agree with it. The list goes on, but the most shocking part is that these actions are taking place in a nation where 75 percent of its citizens claim to be Christian and a very miniscule percentage is atheist. How can that be? (Read Proverbs 15:10.)
There’s also a statement that the atheists and homosexual movement have used to put fear in Christians/non-supporters: “You don’t want to be on the wrong side of history!” The Christian stance should be “I’d rather be on the wrong side of history with men and always on the right side of history with God!” In the end, all human beings will stand before God, and I doubt that those people who pressured you to give up your biblical foundation and join their cause will take the blame, since God holds each person individually accountable for the decisions he or she makes (Deuteronomy 31:6). Stop just floating downstream with the crowd, and ask yourself, before you make a decision, “How does this correlate with my biblical beliefs?” For many years, I floated downstream, refusing to tell others where I was going when I was keeping the holy days, because I didn’t want to be weird or different from the crowd. Now I tell anyone who asks that I’m keeping the feast. Christians today, like the first-century disciples, should “go out and bear fruit (John 15:16). Each of us can be a light in a dark world and could lead a coworker or friend to God by simply explaining to them why we keep the Sabbath or holy days. Most people have never heard of the pure truth in our Bible. This dark world embraces many lies regarding the truth in the Bible.
The trends in our nation and world are getting darker. I was recently reading an article in the New York Times that stated that the millennial generation is in favor of having marriage licenses that have to be renewed every few years, so if you determine this person isn’t for you the license won’t have to be renewed. Aren’t we supposed to go in to marriage with a forever mindset? You’re not supposed to start off with the mindset of “If this doesn’t work I can leave in three years when the license expires.” There was also an article in which a popular actress named Monique praised and even recommended open marriage. She stated that she and her husband have been in an open marriage for the past ten years. These are the current trends in our world, and we have to understand that God holds us all individually accountable for the decisions we make, especially after He’s given us His truth to spread to the world (Psalms 27:10). Swim upstream against the current! Remember, if it violates God’s Word, we shouldn’t do it. Don’t be hurt by the things others will say to you when you’re doing the right thing. In the end, God is the only One who matters (Psalm 38:19-22). None of this will be easy, but we can strengthen ourselves by attending Sabbath services and keeping God’s holy days with others who are going through the same struggles of a world turning its back our Creator God! It will be hard, but in the end it will be so worth it (Revelation 3:21)!