It has been said that if you stand for something worthwhile, you will have some people for you and some against you. But if you stand for nothing, you will have nobody against you—but neither will you have anybody for you.

In today’s society there is tremendous pressure to be politically correct and open minded; that is, except towards evangelical Christianity. If you make a stand for Christian convictions, you are just as likely to be labeled intolerant, bigoted and/or narrow minded. Funny how those who so aggressively oppose Christianity don’t see themselves as rigid, inflexible, dogmatic and intolerant!

What many don’t seem to realize is that if you stand for nothing, you can easily fall for anything. Or as E. Stanley Jones put it, “The difference between a swamp and a river is that a river has banks, and a swamp has none—it spreads over everything. Some people are rivers: they know where they want to go, and they confine themselves to the banks that lead to that goal. But some people are swamps: they spread over everything; their minds are so open they cannot hold a conviction.”

I’d much rather be a “river for God” and know where I stand and where I’m going and be labeled narrow minded than to be a swamp for “anything goes” and be popular with the crowd! It is much wiser to be biblically correct than politically correct.

As martyred missionary Jim Elliot, who stood firmly on the Word of God, said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please give me the courage to stand firmly on your foundation of truth based on your Word, the Bible, knowing that in the long run truth will survive the test of time. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. James 1:8.