Standing Strong

In the face of adversity, in a world that sometimes will display hostility or at least a lack of understanding of the things of God, we can stand strong in the grace and power of our Lord.  2nd Timothy 3 says:
12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them...

We are called to stand - firm in the Lord, grounded on His firm foundation.  He has given us powerful resources so that we might be empowered to take that strong stand - in the face of temptation, opposition, or persecution.  When we are harassed by human rivals or spiritual enemies, we know we have His armor, we have the Word of God, and we have the Helper, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who lives in us, who will speak and act through us as we disavow human strength and rest in Him.

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Believers in Christ have been given the power to stand strong in the face of temptation, and to
withstand the pressures of this world. Galatians 5 reminds us, in verse 1:
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

We have a great hope in Christ, and we can stand in His grace...later in the chapter, we can read:
4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

I never watched Home Improvement, starring Tim Allen as Tim the Tool Man.  Same for Last Man Standing, which has been a staple of the ABC Friday night lineup and has lasted for 6 seasons.  But, I've liked Tim Allen in the Santa Clause movies, as well as my personal favorite, Christmas with the Kranks.  And, of course, he's the voice of Buzz Lightyear.

I've learned a bit about Tim Allen that makes me like him even more.  Tim has been in the news recently.  The sitcom he has headlined, Last Man Standing, is going away.  Cancelled. Deadline.com reports that the show was "ABC’s second most watched comedy this season with 8.1 million viewers in Live +7, only behind flagship Modern Family (8,7 million). It was the third most watched ABC scripted series overall behind Grey’s Anatomy and Modern Family.

The Daily Wire website reports:

After six seasons, the ABC broadcast network is contractually required to cover the cost of producing the show. Until now, Last Man Standing had been produced and paid for by 20th Century Fox TV before being licensed for broadcast to ABC.

The story continues: "To no one's surprise...and although 20th Century Fox had agreed to reduce its fees, without even bothering to negotiate something that would allow them to hold onto this hit show, ABC abruptly canceled it, using the fig leaf of cost, singling out Tim Allen's high salary."

Deadline describes the show: "With a central character who is a political conservative and devout Christian adhering to traditional American values, the blue-collar comedy appeals to viewers in the Heartland..."

Uh-oh.  That's a red flag right there.  And, so far, over 350,000 people have signed a Change.org petition to bring back the show.

And the views of the character Allen plays, Mike Baxter, seem to parallel Tim's own views. The Blaze states:

Allen himself has been an outspoken conservative, and during a March appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Allen told Kimmel that Hollywood was very intolerant of anything outside of the liberal scope.

“You’ve gotta be real careful around here,” he said, referring to Hollywood. “You get beat up if you don’t believe what everybody believes. This is like ’30s Germany. I don’t know what happened.”

Allen also told former Fox News host Megyn Kelly in November that “hypocritical” anti-Trump celebrities are the real political bullies.

“What I find odd in Hollywood is that they didn’t like Trump because he was a bully,” he told Kelly. “But if you had any kind of inkling that you were for Trump, you got bullied for doing that. And it gets a little bit hypocritical to me.”

The article reports that Allen tweeted out: “Stunned and blindsided by the network I called home for the last six years..."

And, there's something that has been reported about Tim Allen that you may not have known.  The Q Political website states:

Tim Allen believes in God. And if you meet him in person, you’ll quickly learn that he’s unashamed to tell you so.

But Allen doesn’t claim to be a perfect Christian. In fact, he admits that many of his life’s deepest struggles are what caused him to turn to Christ.

The story recounted how Tim's father had been killed by a drunk driver when he was 11.  Allen actually spent two years in prison for cocaine possession.  The article says that he has shared, "For years, I just did not like this idea of God, church,” adding that he was “still a churchgoer, but constantly a cynic.”

But, there was a change since he turned his life over to Christ, the article contends, quoting Allen: "I always do ask — whoever put me here; The Builder — what did You want me to do? I just want a relationship with Whoever built me. This is too much; too weird that it happened by accident. I don’t believe that I happened by accident.”  Other websites, including Beliefnet, Christian Cinema, and Faithwire have featured stories exploring Allen's faith journey.

One of the takeaways here is that nothing on earth is permanent.  This television show appeared to have a strong following; its status didn't change, but how it was regarded apparently did.  We have to guard against being too comfortable in current circumstances.

This saga concerning Last Man Standing can help us to think about standing for Christ; and we may be the last man or woman in our orbit who is doing so.  We are called to allow our "light to shine" for Christ - sometimes that may put us in a tough position, but we can be confident in God's grace.

There is great concern over the portrayal of Christians in the entertainment industry.  There was a link from that Q Political story to a video in which Allen worked a reference to Christ into a Last Man Standing episode.  You see, what Hollywood, I believe, does not understand is that faith is part of the fabric of so many people's lives; but it may not be or likely is not part of theirs.  So they are not comfortable in portraying it.  Sometimes, it may come out stilted or uncomfortable - so perhaps they dismiss it.  But, when faith is portrayed as a natural part of someone's life, it adds a component of reality.

We can consider how faith is integrated into our own lives.  Our Christian faith is more than a "check-box," and it's certainly more than a compartment - the spiritual, I believe, should inform every area of life.  There is not to be a separation between the sacred and the secular.  We are spirit beings; our spirits have been renewed by Christ, and His life is our life; so in all our exploits, all things, we are called to seek the glory of God.