Day 28 “Not Liked But Respected”

Devotional:

We might not be liked, but we will be respected. That's sometimes the case when we choose to stand for Jesus in a world that doesn't. When we choose to live with godly integrity in a world that doesn’t. Recently a movie was made called "Hacksaw Ridge.” It's based on the true life story of Desmond Doss.

Desmond was a man who signed up for the army but refused to bear arms as a "conscientious objector.” But he wanted to serve his country so he signed up as a medic. He faced ridicule and abuse from his fellow soldiers but refused to go against his conscious. He refused to quit the army even when his commanding officers tried to have him courtmartialed for refusing to carry a weapon.

But Desmond held no grudge and continued to serve in the army, helping the men of his unit with blisters on their march-weary feet and helping soldiers who struggled with heat stroke. In battle, he showed incredible bravery and personal sacrifice, risking his life to help injured soldiers. The defining moment in the war for Desmond was when his unit was trying to capture the Maeda Escarpment, an imposing rock face the soldiers called Hacksaw Ridge.

After securing the top of the cliff, the soldiers were stunned when enemy forces rushed them in a vicious counterattack. Officers ordered an immediate retreat. Soldiers rushed to climb back down the steep cliff. All the soldiers except one. Less than one third of the men made it back down, the rest laying wounded or dead on the ridge. On May 5, 1945, Doss saved the lives of 75 soldiers! The Americans would eventually take Hacksaw Ridge but not before Doss was severely wounded by a Japanese grenade.

Desmond Doss would recovery from his injuries and three years after that day on Hacksaw Ridge, he stood on the White House lawn and received the nation’s highest award for bravery and courage under fire, the Congressional Medal of Honor. Whatever your opinion may be of his views, you have to respect that he stood by his beliefs and was willing to pay any price to live his life by those beliefs without compromise.

That would also be a description of the life of John the Baptist. He stood by his belief, that all must repent and believe in Jesus for salvation. And he was even willing to say it to King Herod and his family, no matter the cost. And their was certainly a cost… his head! Herod had married his brother’s wife, Herodias, and John the Baptist spoke out against it. Herodias held a grudge again John the Baptist but Herod himself had respect for him.

It says in v. 20, “for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.” When we live by our convictions and are willing to share Jesus as the reason for those convictions, people may be “greatly perplexed” but many of them will listen to us out of respect for the commitment we have to our beliefs. We might not be liked, but we will be respected.

Prayer:

What commitment are you holding to that others may be bothered by? Take time to pray for the strength to stick to your commitment. Pray for God to use that commitment to impact those around you.