STEP UP AND DO IT!

I read a story recently about a man who decided to trap a woodchuck that had been doing damage in his garage. He bought a live trap, baited it and the next morning found he had trapped a skunk!

Now he had a worse problem. He looked online for suggestions, but the thought of doing something wrong and causing a "big stink" kept him from even getting close to the trap. About then his son-in-law stop by, surveyed the situation and stepped up to the challenge. He calmly walked to the cage, opened the door and coaxed the skunk out with a few light sprays from a garden hose. Problem solved.

The point of the story is that sometimes our fears can lead us to inaction. We worry so much about what might happen that we fail to step up and do anything. You can see this in our culture: We fear giving offense by our speaking against evil people or actions so we say nothing. We fear our children will be angry with our rules, so we let them get by with wrong behavior. We fear the disapproval of others, so we say nothing when our Christian faith is being trashed.

But there's a time to step up and let the skunk out. The stink of doing nothing can be far worse than doing something, even if it's done poorly. We've become so polite (fearful?) that we think it's safer to do nothing. There's so much false "propriety" around these day that illustrates well the adage, "Stand for nothing and you'll fall for anything."

If you hear God's name being trashed, tell him to stop it. If you're fearful of hurting your teen's feelings by taking away privileges, remind yourself you're the parent. If our government is afraid to call out a skunk, vote against it. If something needs to be done and you're there, step up and do it.

Jesus stepped up did what was needed. He didn't measure His words so as not to offend anyone. He spoke the truth in a spirit of love. The only time He was silent was when the shouting of evil was so loud, talking would have done no good. But then He let His actions speak. He went to the cross and took our punishment. He said, "Greater love has no one than that he lay down his life for his friends."(John 15:13) And He proved it!

Don't be afraid to step up when something needs to be done.