A Good Defense

".....'We don't know who opened his eyes.  Ask him.  He is old enough to speak for himself.'  His parents said this because they were afraid of the elders, who had already decided that anyone who said Jesus was the Christ would be avoided.........."  John 9:21-22

A good defense is not always a good offense.  Jesus has just healed the blind man with spit and dirt.  The man is brought before the Pharisees and grilled over what happened.  They still won't believe the him, so they take formerly blind man to his parents to verify that he was blind from birth.  But something funny happens.  They verify his blindness yet deny the One who healed him, knowing full well Jesus Chist had healed their son. 

I can still remember times in the military when it was prudent for me to remain silent about my faith so as not to be "avoided" by the "elders."  It was a regulation not to be open about your faith.  I have become much more vocal in work environments about my faith, still with the fear of being "avoided."  Frankly, I don't care if I don't get invited to happy hour after work.  Acceptance, or better yet, lack there of, can be paralyzing to someone of my people-pleasing nature.  But I have turned a corner in my life.  People to please no longer fully fuel who I am.  (Notice I said fully-it's a hard habit to break). They can't, unless I want to live my life for them and not for a God who gave His only son on a cross for my forgiveness.

Do I still hesitate to talk about my faith sometimes?  Absolutely, out of fear, which breeds and fuels a lack of that same faith I claim to have.  It's hard to be open.  But, it will be a lot harder to close my soul when Christ bears it on the day I stand before Him.

What will we do when the guys in the office are talking about what they would like to do with the cute girl in cubicle 2, and then turn and ask us our opinion?  What will we do when the girls at the gym are bashing our faith because of the "money hungry" pastor with his limo and multi-million dollar house?  What will we do when the boss says that you cannot, under any circumstance, talk about your faith in the workplace, yet makes off-handed remarks about churches in staff meetings?

What will we do?  Don't go on the defense.  Jesus didn't.  Why should we?

Freak