But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility... Eph. 2:13-14
Wednesday, August 6
Looking & Sounding Like a Jesus Freak
Well, I'm not sure where this will end up, but I've got half an hour to kill and little that I can do in a dark room with a sleeping sister, so I figured I might as well get some thoughts out of me that have been simmering for a while. Hopefully they're not too goopy and sticky to make any sense (or to scrape out of my mind). First I want to mention shining in a way that shows how glorious Christ really is. Tonight I was talking with an individual about a specific food that this person enjoys immensely. I personally don't care for this food very much, and he was trying to describe to me what I was missing out on. As I watched his eyes light up and a smile spread across his face, there was no doubt in my mind that he really did like that food. Then it hit me: how do people know that I "really like" Christ? I say "really like" with quotation marks, because obviously I feel much more strongly about my Saviour than this man did about his favourite snack; but it helps my point. Looking at me, would the world think I really like Christ, or would the world look on and see a glow in my eye that says "He is wonderful! You must go to Him! You must know what it is like!"? I can only hope I shine like that. Yes, I know that these little paragraphs didn't tell you how to shine, or even if I do shine, or what I intend to do to shine better. That's not really its purpose. On a selfish level, I wrote them to help me, on a sharing level, I wrote them to make you think. Misery loves company, you know? Moving right along, I'll scrape out more sticky goop, this time focusing on conversations. I really don't want to bring up this subject, because I have major pride issues and this is gonna hurt me. What should a Jesus Freak's conversation sound like? Well, considering that I'm using the term Jesus Freak, you would assume that it would be freakishly full of Jesus. And if Christ is really so wonderful as I believe, that would make perfect sense. Since Christ is in me and I have given myself body and soul to Him, every aspect of my life is affected by Him. So if I'm talking about any part of my life, Christ should come up, right? I don't know what your answer is, but I would agree with myself (big shocker there). Well any of you that have talked to me (and since probably all of you are my friends on facebook, you've all had some sort of conversation with me at one time or the other) know that this is not the case in my life. Sure, sometimes I'll squeak something out, but for the most part my speech barely acknowledges my Lord's existence. And this fills me with such shame. So this has to change. I don't care how long it takes, I've got to start redeeming my conversations. So to begin this process, I figured that I need to lay out why I don't glorify God in the way I talk. 1. I don't think to. This is probably the saddest thing I'll be listing, because after realizing that I just don't think to say anything, I realized that it's because I just don't think of Him. Why? Because I'm not as close to Him as I should be. I mean, if I had my husband standing beside me in every conversation, wouldn't it be extremely rude to completely ignore him every time? Oh God, forgive me. 2. It seems awkward. Ok, so you're sitting there talking about video games with your friends. I'll be nice, and say that something actually popped into your head that makes a little sense, say, um, the disastrous result of a character in the game insisting on his own way. It blares at you as a little lesson to stop fighting for your own way and give in to the Lord's plan. So the question is, how do you bring this up in a group of friends that would probably consider your observation completely random and weird? Well if you're like me, you don't. So two little observations here: a) you don't really know what their reaction would be. b) who really cares if they do think you're weird? We're not called to be normal. We're called to be radically different. In fact, if the most radical you ever get is talking about a pathetic little metaphor from a video game, you're probably not radical enough. Sorry, that was a note to myself. 3. I'm in the "wrong" group. Well, here are the painful facts, Sarah. There is no "wrong" group. I don't care if the person is saved, is living in sin but saying they're saved, or if they're outright atheists. If there is one wrong group, they're all wrong groups. You need to get your thinking straight. Stop hiding behind your pathetic excuses. Well, I guess that's about all I have for that subject. If you're ever talking to me, feel free to remind me of what I just wrote. I want to show the world His greatness, and I can't do that if I'm only talking about chocolate chip cookies. I don't have much time left. Well, I suppose I have all the time in the world, but not if I want to wake up tomorrow without ice-cold water poured on me (I'm just kidding. My family hasn't ever done that - yet). At any rate, I need to wrap this up. I don't know if this has been beneficial to you at all, and honestly, I'm not certain it will help me. Like I said in the beginning, these are just some thoughts I've been thinking. I hope you enjoyed them, and that it wasn't a waste of your time to sit there staring at your computer reading them. May God glorify Himself through you. ~Sarah
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2 comments:
You terrible, wonderful daughter! How dare you put into words exactly what I needed to hear, and exactly what I have been thinking. It is so hard to bring Him up and make Him look good. Lord, help us to obey when You say 'speak'. Thank you, Sarah, for sharing.
Um... you're welcome? =D
It looks much better on facebook, since that's where I originally wrote it. For some reason the paragraphs and spacing didn't really turn out.
Anyway, thank you for the encouraging post. I fell asleep wondering if what I wrote would just leave people in a jumbled mess. I'm glad you understood.
Love you.
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