Going rogue to follow God

By Kevin Fobbs

Life decisions are often made when we feel that we are at a crossroads where the decision to turn to the left or to the right seems as clear for us to make as it is to breathe. Yet what about those times when the decision is not quite as clear where the variables that we are weighing are as cloudy and murky as a morning fog?

Usually that is the time where the weight is heavy on our soul that we have truly to come to a decision that shoves us out of our comfort zone and that demands that we make a choice. The choice may very well be to "go rogue" and take the unfamiliar path.

When we examine this rogue behavior, some political theorists look toward a person like former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin who has described her own political behavior in the previous presidential elections as "going rogue." That catchy phrase is also the title of her bestseller book released last week. According to published accounts her publishers HarperCollins commented that "Going Rogue's" print run was increased from 1.5 million copies to 2.5 million. Whether we agree or disagree with her abilities as a public leader she did knowingly make a commendable decision to step outside of the conventional political box or societal expectations and "go rogue."

Yet there is another greater measurement and application for going rogue. It is a decision that many of us have to face some times in our lives. Many of us are raised to follow moral values and principles by our parents. Yet the conventions of society within the family, community, or school may lead many to compromise those values and principles. That is, we have allowed ourselves to co-opt God for the convenience of getting along to go along. But God cannot be co-opted! Man and nations are finite and God is infinite. "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place." John 16:33

It is not hard to identify the characteristic in ourselves that tempts us to co-opt God. We come across it every week. We hear about a co-worker who is being mistreated at work and we avoid the person because we care about what our other co-workers might think we if show sympathy for the co-worker's plight.

Your child may bring home news from school about a need for parents to give an hour or so at a neighborhood food bank so that those families and schoolmates of your child who are homeless or needy may have a thanksgiving meal and will not go hungry. Instead you knowingly decide to abandon the tug in your heart to follow God's principles and instead quickly substitute a credible excuse that everyone will believe but certainly does not deceive God. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Galatians 6:7

You see, it is the decision to follow instead of to lead that has caused us — and quite possibly our children — to inherit a whirlwind of indifference and promotes the need to "go rogue" in order to follow God's principles.

It should not be this difficult to follow or to stand up for God today!

I remember hearing about a friend's child who was feeling odd because of the stares and catcalls he received because he had decided to pray aloud over his food instead of silently giving thanks in the school cafeteria, even when his parents had offered him the easy way out so that he would not "stick out."

I say bless the child who is willing to "go rogue" and stick out so that others in the school will understand that it is all right to stand up and be strong in his belief even if he is going to be considered rogue. I hope we can raise our children to have that child's belief.

Or what about when the family is getting ready to sit down to planning a Thanksgiving dinner? Let's say you decide you don't want to invite Uncle Robert and Aunt Janice because they are just too far away and besides they always insist on prayers longer than 30 seconds to bless the food the family is giving thanks for. Keeping family peace seems easier doesn't it?

Well now you have to decide what to do. As you sit in your living room and stare across at your wife or husband, you feel that nagging tug to "go rogue" and just make the call to Aunt Janice and Uncle Robert. Yet in the back of your mind you hear the cackling and marginalizing voices of your other relatives who will belittle and berate you for making the rogue decision to follow the spirit of God and not follow the growing spirit of secular convenience. "If you are praising God with your spirit, how can one who finds himself among those who do not understand say "Amen" to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying?" 1 Corinthians 14:16

So the question that you have to confront yourself with is whether or not you should follow the politically convenient decision of certain family members, neighbors, or work colleagues or "go rogue" as Jesus Christ did himself when he chose the pathway that his father in Heaven set him on. Who shall rule your spirit man or God?

© Kevin Fobbs