Sometimes I perform the popular,

seek to satisfy the status quo

because it’s socially easier

to pretend to be like “them”.

Sometimes I crave acceptance,

even though it costs my soul.

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I was created custom-made by God,

with ideas unique to me,

perceptions that fit no one else

that I alone can abdicate.

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Then I think of Jael in Judges 4

who defied her husband’s allegiance

to follow the God of Israel,

risking absolutely everything

in response to God’s command.

I think of Paul and Peter

and Martin Luther King,

honoring their beliefs

over rational safety.

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Am I willing to honor

common approval

over confirmed conviction

to follow Jesus’ call?

Dangerous devotion

to the only one

who gave all for me?

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Am I such a coward?

Yes.

Am I committed to God?

I wonder.

And yet my heart is drawn to love

without conditions or demands,

a God who accepts me as I am,

stays with me, no matter what,

irrevocable, illogical

to my finite mind.

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Jesus, help me to risk resistance,

resentment, my own reticence

to stand for what I believe

perhaps alone except for you.