After church today I really sat and thought about several things from service; a conversation that I had with a very wise, dear friend and then an amazing “step on your toes” kinda message from our pastor. It really made me think about how Christians “do” religion or Christianity rather than “be” a Christian. My friend and I were talking about a memorial service for a Muslim family that he was at. As we talked about what they believe, I started to think about different religions and beliefs out in the world. I look at how Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses go door to door to share their faith. I see how passionately the Muslims pray to their god or how devoted they are to their beliefs. It often makes me wonder…What would happen if Christians shared their faith like that, prayed to God like that and were totally devoted and sold out to the cause of Christ? Can you imagine the impact we would have on the world?
As our Sr. Pastor shared this morning, it can start with one simple statement on Facebook or Twitter; with one passing comment in the hall, office or elevator at the office. It starts with looking at our promises instead of our problems and looking at others BEFORE looking at ourselves.
Don’t get me wrong…I TOTALLY struggle with this. I have had friends delete me on Facebook because of it and I have had to go to them and repent and ask for a second chance. There are at least 2 friends that I can think of right now that I still need to go to and repent and ask for forgiveness. Will they forgive me? I hope so, but that doesn’t even matter; what matters is that I go to them and repent.
If we live that passionate Christian life that I have spoken about, we may lose friends because they don’t know what to make of it, but rather than focus on that I think we need to focus on…What if our passionate Christian life inspires another Christian to do the same? It is literally a ripple effect!
I don’t plan to change WHO I am, but I do plan to change HOW I am! Every situation has a positive or negative spin we can put on it. What would it say to the world around us if we chose to only focus on the positive in the situation rather than the negative?! Anyone can focus on the negative and the truth is that most do! I am striving to set a precedence in my life that I will focus on the positive and only speak the words that are positive and be careful about judging and work towards being that passionate Christian that, let’s face it, we are ALL called to be!
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