How Do You Know When You’re Ready to Take a Stand?

There is a lesson I am again learning from my children.

When my daughter Hadley was younger, she would get upset and cry. Graham, my son, who was 3 at the time, would sing to her to calm her down.

But the only song he really knew was the alphabet song. So he sang that. In his little voice he leans in and sings to her, “A B C D E F G…”

And do you know what? It works.

The singing calmed her down.

The funny thing about that is he never felt silly that he’s singing the alphabet song to her. He knew she needs to be comforted, so he starts doing the only thing he could.

I think this is much the same with us and God.

Before Jesus left for Heaven, He gave us one job: spread the word.

That seems so simple until you actually consider doing it. The closer you get to going out and making a difference, the stronger and higher the walls of resistance seem to grow. Who am I to be talking about these things? What if I get a question I can’t answer? Isn’t it hypocritical of me to tell someone their way is wrong?

But this is the wrong kind of thinking.

It’s wrong because God never asks us to save anyone.

It’s a lot like the moon and the sun. The moon doesn’t generate any light on its own, yet at night we can still see by it. What it does is reflect the light given to it by the sun. And we don’t call the moon a hypocrite or a fake.

So back to the lesson I’m learning: How do we know that we’re ready to take a stand and start sharing our faith?

The answer–as Graham is showing me–is: we’re all ready right now. There’s nothing else we need to wait on.

When Jesus left us with our work, this was his point. Because it’s not about what we can do, but what He can do. The only thing we do is show up on time, ready and willing.

Jesus takes it from there.