Do you believe?

Pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
--Ephesians 6:19-20

In the movie, "Miracle on 34th Street", that was made in 1994, the question is posed of whether or not people believe in Santa Claus. As the plot continued to unfold, more and more people were seen sporting buttons that had the simple 2 words, "I believe!" At the end of the movie, we even see 2 of the villains with "I believe!" buttons concealed in their clothing. They were afraid of their boss who opposed everthing about Santa Claus in the name of business.

As Christians, I think we are sometimes like those villains in the movie. We do believe, but we are afraid of whatever there is around us in the world. We are afraid of scoffing by friends or neighbors. We are afraid we will be thought of as somehow inferior because of our belief in Jesus Christ as God's only Son. We are afraid of offending others, because our media (radio, newspaper, television, etc.) has spent billions of dollars telling us that we should never be offensive to anyone for any reason.

Of course, that "offensive" bullet only works on Christians who would call sin, sin. It doen't work for us to be offended when we are called ignorant or uninformed or intollerant. The only people who are allowed be offended are those who oppose traditional, Judeo-Christian values. The question then becomes, do we cry "foul" anyway? If we know that our offense is unimportant to others (and especially in our media outlets and even in the courtrooms of the USA), do we bother to stand up and speak anyway?

We need to be not be so concerned about what others think and much more concerned with what our Lord thinks. Once again, I am not necessarily advocating political action on the part of believers. I honestly believe that the greatest changes possible in our society will come not by partisan politics, but by the life-changing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We can't legislate prayer back into the schools, but when every teacher, administrator and student has been radically changed by Jesus, we won't be able to keep prayer out either. From the mess on Capital Hill, I am saddened to say we may not be able to legislate an end to the wholesale murder of innocent lives under the euphemism of abortion, but when every doctor and every nurse have their eyes opened to the grace provided by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, no one will be able to find medical professional willing to sacrifice life.

In short, we can wear our "I believe!" buttons under our clothes and only bring out our faith in the "right" company, or we can be bold for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and watch the world be saved and changed through His power and His might.

I don't believe in Santa Claus, but I believe in Jesus! Do you believe?