Standing Alone

by Andrew Cromwell

Almost everyone will find themselves standing alone in the crowd at some time or another. You know the experience. You are sure you are in the “right” on an issue and that there are others who will stand with you when the chips are down. But suddenly you look around and you are the only one standing there!

This is sure to happen to us at some point (and for some of us this happens pretty frequently). The real question is whether we are standing alone for the right reasons! Altogether too often, people call themselves “mavericks” when they are actually just stuck in the past and unwilling to change. Or worse, people stand alone because they are simply too full of pride to go and ask forgiveness for that thing they said or did that they shouldn’t have.

But when you stand alone because of principles like truth, justice and love, you can do so with confidence. For although you might be standing alone, you know you are planted in the right place. If you are mocked, persecuted and maligned, you can be assured you are in good company.  Men and women throughout history have unwaveringly stood for what is right, true and just and they have even given their lives for that cause.

If there is anyone in our history books that experienced this to its fullest, it was a man who was misunderstood by everyone. Those closest to him liked him but just couldn’t buy into the tough parts of his message. Those who were in positions of power rejected him because they saw him as a threat to their institutions. And his own father rejected him at the very moment of his greatest isolation.

And yet because Jesus Christ, the One and only God-man, stood alone, we never have to stand alone. Because He faced rejection from all, we never have to fear ultimate rejection. The Psalms say, “Though father and mother reject me, the Lord will receive me.” Hebrews says, “I [God] will never leave you, I will never forsake you.” And Romans says, “anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

They key to standing alone is standing for the right reasons and standing with the right Person. The idea is not to invite God into your fight; it is to join His fight! If we stand with Him, then we can be assured that we stand secure even if everything and everyone else in the world seems to be against us.

If you don’t have this kind of assurance, then either you have picked the wrong battle or you haven’t picked the right side! Maybe it’s time to do a heart evaluation and make sure that you have given your destiny over to the only Person who can really handle it - Father God.