Acts 13:4-12

Acts 13:4-12
English Standard Version (ESV)

  I consider myself a (somewhat) patient parent, but when my child whines about what color their dinner plate is for the 16th night in a row, I tend to reach the end of my last nerve and perhaps don't always react as Christ would have me react.  At a certain point, I feel compelled to let them know exactly how unimportant the color of their plate is and the repercussions of what will happen to their dinner if they continue to protest their assignment of dinnerware.
  We all reach this point, right?
  What's good is when the church finds the balance between loving selflessly, with humility, and standing up and speaking out when the time calls for it.  Often, the church needs to listen and love.  At other times, when forces or people are making crooked the straight paths of the Lord, it's time for the church to rise up as one and announce that the Lord's will, that the love and mercy and grace and truth of God, will conquer against those who stand in its way.  We need to act out, to love boldly and to take the message of repentance and grace into the streets.
  I'm not going to pretend to know exactly how to discern the best times to turn the other cheek and when to speak out with passion, but that's why we gather as a community -- to listen to one another and help us know exactly how the Lord is calling us to be the people of God.