We are being watched
1 Peter 3:17-18
For it is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.
Bill and Sally had hunted with us for 20+ years. Bill never had an interest in anything of God. Sally had a relationship with Jesus and shared that she prayed that Bill would as well. A couple years ago, I pushed the subject of the need to trust Christ with our lives. Bill, now in his 80's, sat and listened intently. He asked questions and I offered answers, from the Scriptures. Bill left and went home at the end of the hunt without making profession of Christ.
The next spring when Bill and Sally came to camp he asked if I would baptize him. I said I would, but needed to know if he had put his trust in Jesus Christ and what He did on our behalf. Bill answered that he had thought about what we had talked about in the fall and had accepted Christ's gift.
They came back in the summer for a baptism and Bill attended our men's breakfast at church with me. When he introduced himself he told the guys that he was there for his baptism and that he had been watching Linda and I for 20 year and wanted what we had.
Back in high school (and before) I was, at time, ridiculed for not attending the parties that others were throwing on the weekends. Or for talking the way that others talked. I was somewhat of a joke to many others in our school. At the time I felt bothered and a little proud by this.
Verse 17 confirms that it was better to suffer for making this stand. It wasn't fun, but it was right.
Many years later, while at a class reunion, a woman started up a conversation with my wife. She told her that she had always respected me for standing for what I thought was right.
If you believe it or not, people are watching... They notice when you stand up and suffer for what you believe. We are all called to make a stand.... Do it humbly as if you are being watched and judged for Christ.
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