Into the Arena

As Moses dispatched Joshua, who was appointed to be his successor as leader of Israel, He gave Him strong words of exhortation, as we read in Deuteronomy 31:
6 Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you."
7 Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it.
8 And the Lord, He is the one who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed."

Joshua was about the face the challenge of a lifetime - to lead Israel into the promised land; a task that Moses was not able to complete.  He offered Joshua the reminder of God's abiding presence, and in the course of three verses, told him twice that God "will not leave you nor forsake you."  He told Him to "Be strong and of good courage."  When God chooses to send us into the arenas of life, where we will be challenged, when there is opposition, He doesn't leave us to fend for ourselves; no, He provides incredible tools so that we can capably testify to His name.

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In the arenas of life into which we're called - when we are called upon to stand on our faith, we know that we have Someone Who is mighty who goes before us and lives in us to give us the right words to
say.  Luke 12 states:
8 "Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God.
9 But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.
10 And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.
11 Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say.
12 For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."

Today, there was a webinar presented by the Colson Center featuring a discussion between Warren Smith and Stephanie Gray called, Love Unleashes Life: Abortion and the Art of Communicating Truth.

A Breakpoint commentary by John Stonestreet from late last year provided a short bio of Gray:

Stephanie Gray is a Canadian pro-life apologist. She travels the world making the case for the humanity and personhood of the unborn. She’s co-founder of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform and now leads a ministry called Love Unleashes Life.

And, one might say that her main claim to fame is speaking at the headquarters for...Google!  The video of her presentation went viral.

Stonestreet shared about the presentation:

At Google, she marshaled scientific evidence to show that our humanity and individuality are fully present from the earliest stages of gestation. She showed that an unborn baby’s moral value is determined solely by the type of thing it is, not its size, level of development, environment, or degree of dependency.

And most importantly, she appealed to her audience’s moral imagination, demonstrating why the others-centered love required to choose life is the kind of thing we admire, the kind of thing we know is right, and the kind of choice no one regrets.

He pointed out two lessons from the Google speech: "First, the case for life is strong. Her message was one that even an overwhelmingly secular and progressive audience could understand. She made non-religious arguments—what Chuck Colson would call prudential arguments—for the rights of the unborn. And then she employed an arsenal of stories that reinforce life in a way philosophical reasoning by itself never could."  He also said that "the second thing we can learn is that the moral realities that Christians believe aren’t just true and defensible. They’re better! So many in our culture these days are wondering not only if Christian truth claims are true, but if they’re good."

Gray also spoke at the Colson Center's Wilberforce Weekend earlier this year.  Brandon Showalter, writing for The Christian Post, related this:

"We are in a spiritual battle," Gray emphasized, "and if we are going to confront the culture and enter into that battle in a very serious way then there are three things that we need to do."

The first is that contemplation be prioritized over confrontation, modeling Jesus while doing so, she said, and from there ask good questions and tell good parables.

She had talked about the nervousness she had faced before speaking to Google and how prayer is such an essential element before going into battle to confront evil.  That is a great lesson for us today - this Post story can challenge us about the nature of spiritual warfare and how Christians should be reliant on the power of God, especially when going into what I would call "the arena" -  that place where we are confronting the ideas of the world or just going into a tough situation in which we need the power of God to flow through us.  As the story said, "contemplation should be prioritized over confrontation."

I think there are other principles that flow from this young lady's story.  And, actually, story is a key word when we consider going into the arena. We can be proactive to be personal and personable - perhaps telling what God has done in our lives, or using an illustration to drive home a key point.  And, we know we have the Holy Spirit who will be with us to give us the right words to say.

Plus, another principle we can personalize is that we can depend on the Lord for understanding, for wisdom, and for the right delivery when we find ourselves "in the arena," perhaps in an effort to defend the faith, or in a tough situation we may encounter.  We can know that where He has called us to walk, He is faithful to provide the resources we need in order to accomplish what He desires, so that He may be exalted.