Title:- Fighting the Flow!
John 10:20 And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?
Peer pressure is a most powerful force. When a community has an ethos, a world view, an approach, a belief that is widely accepted espoused and adhered to by the vast majority within it and you choose to go against it, disagree with it and even confront it; then friends, you can guarantee that a problem will arise and of course that problem will be YOU!
Jesus, even in His miracles and teachings had Psalm 69:8 fulfilled amongst His nearest and dearest, when his own flesh and blood did not believe in Him. Christ’s feelings at this point in His ministry are quite sad and profound; “I have become a stranger to my brothers, And an alien to my mother's children;” and again in John 7:5, “For even His brothers did not believe in Him.”
It’s hard to fight against the flow isn’t it? It’s difficult to navigate and cross the consensus of opinion that may be against you. Misunderstandings of motives and intent will be rife at times like this. My goodness, even David the sweet singer of Israel in all his littleness, when talking openly about the greatness of God’s almightiness, when having the audacity to suggest fighting Goliath of Gath by faith, had to suffer his first battle at the hands of his family; “Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab's anger was aroused against David, and he said, “Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.” 1 Samuel 17:28. Ha! It all could have ended there don’t you think? It could all have ended there!It seems to me that trials of tremendous proportions come upon those that follow God against the flow. What differentiates those that turn back from the call of God on their lives, from those that pursue it, despite suffering the lonely isolation of such enormous pressure? Surely it has to do with that possession of the knowledge of the certainty of the joy that is set before us. We know God has told us to do this! We know God has told us to go there! We know God has told us to be this way! We know this fighting against the flow pleases Him and that makes us happy! Let me ask you today, do you have any measure of that certainty of joy that comes with knowing He shall say to you “well done my good and faithful servant?” If so, then keep swimming against the flow! Don’t listen to those who with misunderstanding, lack of faith, and deep envy, are challenged and maybe even condemned in the highlighting of their own disobedience by your splashing and a wiggling, jumping and a striding against the fearsome flow of a quiet conformity, a cultural conservatism, or a frolicking and rollicking, rocking revival, rooted in inauthenticity. Don't listen to them.
Listen:- ....He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Luke 4:16-19
Pray:- Unless You go with me, and I know it, I dare not go, I cannot stand. Anoint me then with the true power of Your presence today. Amen and amen.
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