Our church has been going through a series entitled "CLEAN" using the book of 1 Peter detailing how we are and how we can live clean - holy in our unclean, post-modern, do-whatever-you-feel-like world. Today our pastor framed this idea of being clean with the purpose of living this against-the-grain lifestyle. Did you know that holy simply means different, set apart? To me this word "holy" always meant something that I could never really understand much less achieve until one day our pastor enlightened us, and can I tell you it completely changed my view of a "christian" lifestyle? The way I live is not going to nor should it resemble the lifestyle of someone who does not place his or her faith in Christ.
Anyway, sorry I get side tracked easily by things that rock my world. The purpose of living differently is not so I can point and boast of all the things I don't do, nor is it to point and judge the things that others do. The text used today was 1 Peter 3:18, and it states,
"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that HE might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit,"
Okay so Christ's purpose was to bring people to God through His death, burial and resurrection, then my purpose is the same as Christ is my example. 2 Corinthians 5:20 calls believers Christ's ambassadors imploring people to be reconciled to God. It is about the message - our purpose is to share this message of what Christ has done for us.
I am sure many of you are wondering why I am giving you a play by play from this morning's message at church. Perhaps the accurate wording is that it bothered me. This life in this time and in this space is to serve a purpose so much bigger than myself - it is to share the message that can change the world. I am not sure if it was the rain or something else but I missed my Mamaw terribly today. And every time I think of her, I think of the indelible mark she left on this world. I want so much to leave my own mark on the world - I want people to see love in and through my life. And not a fake love. A real love. I want them, you to see Christ in me - not just read words on a blog.
The part that bothered me and continues to bother me is that I am often not the ambassador I want to be. I am not sure if you see love in me at all - fake or real. I have realized that I get caught up in myself - I don't show love because I am afraid that you won't love me in return or that you will hurt me. It's not supposed to be about that. We are not called to show love only to those who will love us back. I am called to live a life that resembles the life Christ lived, and He loves everyone no matter what. I mean He loves me with all of my baggage, my failures, my sins against His very nature. How can I call myself His follower and not love who and what He loves? I can't - that would be contradictory. So I must make the choice to love and to live a life that reflects Christ.
So as I strive to live a life of love that spreads the message of Christ, I hope that perhaps you ask yourself some of the same questions. That perhaps I am not alone in this. That maybe, just maybe, my failures will help you along your journey. Also just know that Jesus loves you - He died so that He could bring us to God.
Anyway, sorry I get side tracked easily by things that rock my world. The purpose of living differently is not so I can point and boast of all the things I don't do, nor is it to point and judge the things that others do. The text used today was 1 Peter 3:18, and it states,
"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that HE might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit,"
Okay so Christ's purpose was to bring people to God through His death, burial and resurrection, then my purpose is the same as Christ is my example. 2 Corinthians 5:20 calls believers Christ's ambassadors imploring people to be reconciled to God. It is about the message - our purpose is to share this message of what Christ has done for us.
I am sure many of you are wondering why I am giving you a play by play from this morning's message at church. Perhaps the accurate wording is that it bothered me. This life in this time and in this space is to serve a purpose so much bigger than myself - it is to share the message that can change the world. I am not sure if it was the rain or something else but I missed my Mamaw terribly today. And every time I think of her, I think of the indelible mark she left on this world. I want so much to leave my own mark on the world - I want people to see love in and through my life. And not a fake love. A real love. I want them, you to see Christ in me - not just read words on a blog.
The part that bothered me and continues to bother me is that I am often not the ambassador I want to be. I am not sure if you see love in me at all - fake or real. I have realized that I get caught up in myself - I don't show love because I am afraid that you won't love me in return or that you will hurt me. It's not supposed to be about that. We are not called to show love only to those who will love us back. I am called to live a life that resembles the life Christ lived, and He loves everyone no matter what. I mean He loves me with all of my baggage, my failures, my sins against His very nature. How can I call myself His follower and not love who and what He loves? I can't - that would be contradictory. So I must make the choice to love and to live a life that reflects Christ.
So as I strive to live a life of love that spreads the message of Christ, I hope that perhaps you ask yourself some of the same questions. That perhaps I am not alone in this. That maybe, just maybe, my failures will help you along your journey. Also just know that Jesus loves you - He died so that He could bring us to God.
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