It takes courage to dress modestly. To stand out from the crowd. To bear hurtful comments and rude looks from the world.
It takes courage to keep silent in a group of gossiping girls. More courage still, to boldly but gently speak against their slander of another.
It takes courage to ask a friend to watch her language in your presence. To ask the person, man or woman, with a polite and proper attitude.
It takes courage to stand by Biblical convictions. To show grace toward the unsaved all the while. To bar legalism from clutching your heart.
It takes courage to admit to your friends that you have not seen the movie they are raving about, because it contains content displeasing to God.
It takes courage to be a true Christian in this world. It takes courage because this world represents all that God abhors. The world mocks God and his followers. Oh, they accept cowardly Christians. They accept wholeheartedly the "Christian" who attends church each Sunday dressed just like the world. They accept the "Christian" who basks in sin every day. The "Christian" who loves the same shows the world does, revels in the same music, and laughs at others who are not just like them.
I know peer pressure is real. I know it affects boys and girls, teenagers, and men and women of all ages. I know everyone wants to "fit in." But the truth is, let's face it: Giving in to peer pressure is the coward's way out. Dressing, acting, speaking, living like everyone else while claiming to be a Christian--this is the chosen path of the coward. Yikes. Our churches are full of cowards. Our Christian schools brim with them. And where cowards gather, lives are wasted. Joy is absent. The presence of God is disturbingly lacking. And the work God wants to do through His people is given to the courageous.
Christian women, don't you dare compromise your convictions to satisfy your craving for attention, for acceptance. Don't you dare let your desire to have your body praised overshadow your desire to please God. Don't you dare let your craving for friendship cause you to join in that conversation that violates your conscience. Don't you dare make fun of someone for her high standards, to her face or behind her back. Don't you dare be a coward. Dare to be a brave Christian woman. The world is in desperate need of them.
"Godly womanhood . . . the very phrase sounds strange in our ears. We never hear it now. We hear about every other type of women: beautiful women, smart women, sophisticated women, career women, talented women, divorced women. But so seldom do we hear of a godly woman--or of a godly man either, for that matter. . . It is a much nobler thing to be a good wife than to be Miss America . . . It is a far, far better thing in the realms of morals to be old-fashioned, than to be ultra-modern. The world has enough women who know how to be smart. It needs women who are willing to be simple. The world has enough women who know how to be brilliant. It needs some who will be brave. The world has enough women who are popular. It needs more who are pure. We need women, and men, too, who would rather be morally right than socially correct."
~Reverend Peter Marshall, former Chaplain of the U.S. Senate, 1940s
6 comments:
Thank you for the reminder that we are called as Christians to be different! :)
Great post Emily, so very true.
Visiting from Woman to Woman. This is a great post! Every time we choose to do the right thing we are choosing courage. I shared about that with some ladies at a home (addictions) about it's the daily things in our life where we need to be brave, especially when no one is watching. I shared it on my blog which you can find under "Talk on Tuesday". Have a great week! Diane
Visiting from W2W Wednesday! Wonderful, convicting words. Thank you for courageously writing them : )
courage shows itself in many ways. it is difficult to go against the flow.
Clicking over to you from Titus 2sdays. This was a really encouraging and challenging article, and so true. I like your quote from Peter Marshall. Thank you for being willing to share this.
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