Take a stand (or a seat)

This week our nation mourned the loss of a pioneer. Rosa Parks passed away at the age 92 on October 24. Yesterday her funeral was held here in Detroit.
Here is a portion of the news report about Rosa...
Parks was 92 when she died Oct. 24 in Detroit. Nearly 50 years earlier, she was a 42-year-old tailor's assistant at a department store in Montgomery, Ala., when she was arrested and fined $10 plus $4 in court costs for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery city bus.
Her action on Dec. 1, 1955, triggered a 381-day boycott of the bus system led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in December 1956 that segregated seats on city buses were unconstitutional, giving momentum to the battle against laws that separated the races in public accommodations and businesses throughout the South.
But Parks and her husband, Raymond, were exposed to harassment and death threats in Montgomery, where they also lost their jobs. They moved to Detroit with Rosa Parks' mother, Leona McCauley, in 1957.
The action of this one woman impacted an entire nation. She was willing to do what was right when the culture around her said it was wrong. Her example should also be an inspiration to Christians around the world. Her attitude and courage remind me of the words of the apostle Paul who wrote...
With the Lord's authority let me say this: Live no longer as the ungodly do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their closed minds are full of darkness; they are far away from the life of God because they have shut their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They don't care anymore about right and wrong, and they have given themselves over to immoral ways. Their lives are filled with all kinds of impurity and greed.
But that isn't what you were taught when you learned about Christ. Since you have heard all about him and have learned the truth that is in Jesus, throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception. Instead, there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes. You must display a new nature because you are a new person, created in God's likeness--righteous, holy, and true. (Ephesians 4:17-24)
We must be different. We must live different. We must be willing to take a stand for what is right even when the culture says it is wrong.
Abortion.
Homosexuality.
Materialism.
Sexual freedom.
Dishonesty.
Euthanasia.
Selfishness.
Greed.
The list could go on and on.
The question that remains is this. Are we willing to take a stand for God no matter what? Are willing to sacrifice the comforts of this world to serve the Kingdom of God? Can we lay down our crown so we can pick up our cross?
Jesus Himself said the following...
"If any of you wants to be my follower," he told them, "you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life. And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul? If a person is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, I, the Son of Man, will be ashamed of that person when I return in the glory of my Father with the holy angels." (Mark 8:34-38)
What are you willing to give for Jesus? He was willing to give it all for you.
Rosa Parks was willing to pay a fine, suffer death threats, and lose her job to take a stand (and a seat) for what is right. What are willing to give?