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For a long time I lived a double life. I was a Christian but I didn't want people to know it. Other people seemed like they were having so much fun. They would laugh and joke and drink, cuss, and well you get the picture.
I just wanted to fit in so I went with the crowd. I thought I was having a ball. It was very exciting at first. I started with a foul joke here and a sarcastic remark there. Soon I could weave a tapestry of obscenities so wide your mother would slap me!
I didn't drink heavily, but the drinking games were part of "the fun." My room mate and I had 3 or 4 people come over and the drinks would flow with laughs and jokes. This grew into 20 people being squeezed in a tiny dorm room.
Our solution to this problem was to get an apartment. Now we can have parties with more space! On graduation weekend, we held a nonstop 3 day party in our apartment. We had people laid out on the floor that we didn't know.
We were definitely "the life" or were we? After graduation I moved to a small town. I had grown so accustomed to my phone ringing off the hook in college that no calls seemed like a prison sentence. I didn't know anyone except a handful of people at work.
I started hanging out with some of them and we trolled the clubs and bars. Something was missing though. I couldn't put my finger on it. Then a strange thought popped in my head. One that I had not thought of in years. Why not go to church?
Okay, I will try church. I visited the boring church, then the loud church, then the good music church, the begging church, the church with the most women. I finally settled on a Bible teaching church.
I got excited and felt the desire to teach. I began to read the Bible and teach on Sunday's. But on Saturday's I would still go out to the clubs. One Sunday I had finished teaching my students and I walked down the hall with them in church. A Saturday night guy recognized me and started talking about the great time we had the night before."
Shhhh! Not in front of the students", I thought to myself. Then it hit me, maybe I shouldn't be doing the stuff I was doing. Living a double life is difficult. It is hard to be a good witness of GOD in the middle of sinful acts. Can you imagine telling the person you just lied about to believe in CHRIST? It doesn't work.
It actually is a struggle inside every Christian. GOD knows humans are sinful so I learned to cut myself some slack. I'm not perfect so I don't expect other humans to be. I now tell people that I was and continue to be a sinner. This points people to CHRIST. They don't look at my attempt to be perfect rather that get blessed because they see GOD accepts imperfect people.
GOD wants us to be open and honest with each other about sin. The more a person pretends to be perfect, the more GOD takes away from them. Think about it... the whole purpose of Christianity is to serve CHRIST. By pretending to serve people in order to look good defeats the purpose of being a Christian.
- Shining light means not being ashamed to say no to the crowd.
- Shining light means you know CHRIST is more than job, title or wealth.
- Shining light means giving people the great news about CHRIST.
- Shining light means you will be hated by the world and churchy people just for following CHRIST.
- Shining light means everyone around you knows you follow CHRIST.
Our lives are made for CHRIST and we should never forget it. GOD was not made for us, we were made for HIM. Our focus should always be "How can we serve HIM?" versus "what can HE do for me today?" With this new attitude, our light will shine!
- Are you trying hard to fit in the crowd?
- Can you be honest with people and tell them about your sins?
- Are you embarrassed about your past?
- Can you turn your bondage of the shame of sin into a statement of victory?
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