Doing, fully, what you believe in.

Both in Tom Cruise's The Firm and Jim Carey's Liar Liar we find very similar plot lines, though carried out in two completely different ways.  The answer to the stereotypically unethical law practice is to dive fully into the practice of law as it was always meant to be practiced.  Though in practice it probably doesn't usually turn out this way, the point of the movies is that doing things the right way will always win out in the end.  But what if you are committed to being an ethical lawyer that does your job very well and thorough and by-the-book?  Will you always, or even mostly, win out in the end?  Will you thrive in your practice?  I'd like to think the answer is, "YES!" but I have no idea because I'm not a lawyer.

What do you do if you're on a team or part of a business or part of a church and things aren't going very well?  To what degree do you start doing things differently, or do you change your values, or do you give up all together?  How do you stick to what's right and true and pure?

Whether it's practicing law, medicine, leadership, or life, the only way to get through your days and weather the many storms is to double down on the essence of why you do what you do.  Know what you believe in, make sure it's worth believing, and 100% run with it.  There will be no greater regret when you come to the end of your working days (or your actual days) then if you held back from what you knew you needed to do.

There are certain truths from all of these professional disciplines that everybody accepts as non-negotiables.  One truth that supersedes them all and effects them all is the truth of the existence and activity of an all-loving, all-powerful, all-wise God.  His existence is not dependent on your belief in Him or not.  His activity is not dependent on whether you want Him to be active or not.  His presence, though, is deeply effected by whether you really want Him to walk with you or not.  He knows when He's wanted and He knows the heart of each man and woman.  As a result, we cannot fully understand His ways and why He does (or doesn't do) what He does.  But, we who trust Him and love Him can count on His many promises.

Psalm 91 holds promise to all who double down on their belief in this great God.  He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."  But it's not because of smooth waters that the writer has this conviction, for he lists the many hardships - "snare of the fowler," "deadly pestilence," "terror of the night," "arrow that flies by day," "pestilence that stalks the darkness," and "destruction that wastes at noonday."  It's BECAUSE God is all that He says He is and has proven faithful for thousands and thousands of years that I will never turn my back on Him.  Nothing, and I mean nothing, in my life even touches these descriptions or the many examples in history of men and women who have suffered greatly and died while suffering yet never denying their savior and their God.

Stick to your convictions.  Yet, make sure these convictions dovetail with the reality of the God of the Bible.  If you do this, you won't stray far and He will always answer you, rescue you, and be your refuge.