It has been said that if you stand for something worthwhile, you will have some people for you and some against you. If you stand for nothing, you will not have anybody against you, but neither will have anyone for you.

In today’s society there is tremendous pressure to be open-minded and politically correct. That is, to accept just about every belief except for Christianity—and for what Christians stand for. To agree with the latter means to be identified as narrow-minded, rigid and fanatical.

What many don’t realize is that if you stand for nothing, you can 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 headed and be labeled narrow-minded than be a swamp for “anything goes” and be politically correct and popular with the crowd.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, help me to always live to please you and not the crowd. Give me the courage to stand for what you teach as moral and right, and stand against that which you condemn. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

1. James 1:8.