What/Who Do you Stand By?

Anything we present to the world, we risk being rejected, ridiculed or we open the opportunity for someone to present a different option. It’s inevitable. People won’t always AGREE with what you stand by. And that’s normal. But we take the risk anyway. Be it a sports team, a product we declare to do the trick, a natural and cruelty-free hair product line that works, a business plan that assures success, a political view that promises a working democracy to a diverse unit of people or a way of living at peace within inevitable, constant change: we share it. We talk about it. We blog. We snapchat. We Periscope. And we talk to pure strangers when they ask us about what we do or use… We believe what we believe in, enough to risk disagreement (and sometimes even inviting it), but hoping that one day those we share it with will see the benefits of what we are doing or using.

Many of those same things, down the line, we come to the realization that it was wrong, erred, fallible and inconsistent. It failed to be that which it promised to be. That’s the normal cycle of humanity. Nothing is foolproof. The world is constantly adjusting to what once worked but now is dysfunctional.

Likewise, I stand by many things and people in support and belief, despite the reality that one day, it just might not work. I will share it, and if it stops working for whatever reason, I’ll talk about that too and search for better options without discounting the work it once did.

Yet Jesus Christ is not just a historical figure I stand by and declare to believe, that one day might not work… He is the constant that through years of things that stopped working, continues to do works in and through me. Many may misrepresent Him, and even I have misrepresented Him at times, but He already did the work of presenting Himself for who He was, is and continues to be on this earth. He spoke for Himself and continues to do so through His living word.

He is One that eternally stands by me. And He stands for me when I can’t stand. He is the ONE that remains the same yesterday, today and forevermore, despite every wind of doctrine, trend, thought, theology, imagination or belief that attempts to deconstruct, distract, derail or destroy the purpose for which He died on the cross. And He did it for LOVE. The kind of love that we fail to accept and consequently fail to demonstrate.

But know that Jesus is the only name that is above any name, company, family lineage, product, style or mode of operation. And the best part is that He isn’t a product to try that may fail to work for “your hair, belief, personality or lifestyle,” He is ONE, in whom’s word you can trust to be true and One to live and stand by.