28 They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods;
29 they aroused the Lord’s anger by their wicked deeds, and a plague broke out among them.
30 But Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was checked.
31 This was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come.
32 By the waters of Meribah they angered the Lord, and trouble came to Moses because of them;
33 for they rebelled against the Spirit of God, and rash words came from Moses’ lips. Psalm 107:28-33

To refresh your memory, in Numbers 25 an Israelite man brought a Midianite woman into his tent in the middle of the night. Phinehas threw a spear through the man and the woman. The Bible sais Phinehas upheld God’s honor.

We look at such an action as extreme, especially since this kind of action happens all around us every day. But the offender knew who the Midianites were and what it would mean to bring such a woman into the camp to sleep with her. But his hormones overtook his logic and he did it anyway. Somehow Phinehas found out and did what he thought was a righteous act. Now the whold world knows what this man of God did.

Phinehas took a great risk in what he did. If he was wrong, he would have been convicted of cold-blooded murder. But he knew he was right.

Of course we need more Phinehas clones today. But what exactly does that look like? Does it mean we go about killing prostitutes and fornicators? Of course not.

For too long we’ve been sitting on the sidelines waiting for others to take a stand. We’ve chosen our battles wisely to the point that we don’t choose any. Or we choose meaningless battles that will never amount to anything.

So what does it look like? There are any number of great and troublesome issues that we can throw ourselves into. Even as I write this a new presidential executive order came out requesting all public schools to adopt transgender facilities. That’s one that will have far-reaching effects on our culture if it’s not nipped in the bud early.

Certainly there’s educating yourself and informing others of the threat of militant Islam. Persecution. Abortion. Homosexual agenda. Child sex trafficking. You are undoubtedly aware of many others.

But you say, “how can one person make a difference?”

Phinehas was one person.

Rosa Parks was one person.

Martin Luther was one person.

Martin Luther King was one person.

History is filled with people who took a strong stand on one burning issue of the day and changed the world. Now, will your stance change the world? Maybe, maybe not. But a clearly-defined, quickly-executed stance will go a long way in a world of wishy-washy feelings and beliefs.

May God help you as you choose your battles wisely and take a firm stance on life-changing issues.