Do you ever have those moments when you know something, but then you really KNOW something? Like it sinks in a little deeper, a little stronger, and makes itself a little more real? Maybe you’ll have an experience and for some reason what you thought you knew, becomes real? Or maybe, you just have a moment when for the first time, you read something and in a new way your brain totally comprehends what it is being said?
I was laying in bed the other night, praying and thinking about our world. I was praying and thinking about my upcoming trip on the World Race, and I was thinking about all the lost and lonely people all over the world. Not just the people in the 11 countries I’ll be visiting, but my next door neighbors, the people I pass on the street, those in America, and those half way across the world. I began to think of the splendor that we will one day experience when all will bow to the one true God, and those from all around the world will unite to worship our creator forever. Man, that gets me so excited!! But then, just like that, I began to really see a glimpse of what those who won’t choose Christ will endure. I began to think about what will happen to people who won’t be in heaven, and immediately my heart broke.
As Christians our goal is to try and tell everyone of the treasure we’ve found because God doesn’t desire that any should parish, but, sadly, I know some will. Some will never choose Christ to be their Lord and that breaks my heart. And for the first time, I really sensed it, I really imagined what it would be for people to be separated from God forever. People I know, people I love, and people I pass on the street. At that moment, I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to just stand on the top of a building and preach the name of Jesus more. When we come to KNOW the reality of what will happen after death, why are we so ‘afraid’ to tell others about the treasure we’ve found?
I’ve been reading a book lately called victory over darkness, and again, some of the verses I’ve read a million and a half times have come alive. What does it mean when Christ says, I will give you peace that passes all understanding? How am I to get something I don’t even understand? And yet, it’s possible. Christ doesn’t guarantee that our lives will be cushy, in fact, he tells us the world hated him first, so it’s probably going to hate us. But, he can grantee us love, comfort in him, and a peace that passes all understanding. I was sitting at Starbucks the other day and I sat there watching the people walk by me, wondering if they knew the truth of the gospel, wondering if they needed the truth to set them free from the schemes of the evil one, and wondering if they really just needed to be loved. I watched them go through the motions of their day and wondered if they knew where they’d be going when they died. I want to live my life wholly and unashamed for Christ, and one day when I have to answer for how I’ve lived, I want to be able to say I spoke boldly, and preached the name of Christ to those who needed it. I want to be able to say I helped the widowed and orphaned in their affliction, I want to scream the name of Christ from the mountain tops. I want to tell others about the love that’s better than all other loves.
I’ve had people look at my life and think it’s so different from the average 23 year old, and that makes me happy. I think most people my age make their lives seem perfect, they do what they want, with who they want, and they live selfishly, yet, I know inside they’re not happy because something is missing. Living my life for Christ has filled me with such overwhelming happiness I can’t even explain. I get to serve the king of heaven, how cool is that?! When we fully accept Christ, he makes all things new. He restores, fulfills, and loves. The feeling I have knowing that I’m living for him, and only him, is something I wouldn’t trade for the world. When we really know God, meet him, and experience him through the holy spriit, we are radically and instantly changed. Our behavior should be immediately and profoundly changed because we are trying to become more like him.
Unbelievers just as in Jesus’ day, deny the undeniable because they are blind. They choose to ignore the truth because they know that if they acknowledge the truth, they’re lives will be changed, forever changed, and they don’t want them too. But, what we need to show them is that when their lives change, it’s for the better. You’ll experience a love like never before, a life that has meaning, and know a God that died to know you.
For quite a while now, I know I’ve been hearing God calling me to be bold. But what does that mean? People have been telling me this for years, ‘I think Christ wants you to be more bold’, I’ll sit in my quiet time and hear God calling me to be bold, but how? I was reading in Acts 4 today while the disciples were being filled with the Holy Spirit, it says, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled.(Acts 4:13)” People will marvel at the boldness of our speech because the Holy Spirit will fill us with the words to say. Then in verse 31, it says, “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” I think I’m realizing that the only way I can gain boldness, is not of my own accord, but of God through the Holy Spirit. It’s clear in his word that we must be filled with him to preach boldness. After prayer and seeking, the disciples were able to make people marvel. That’s what I want to do, I want people to marvel at what I’m saying because it’s not of me, but it’s of God. I want to rejoice that I would be counted worthy to suffer shame for his name, and that (Acts 6:10)”…they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.”
The entire reason that I exist is to try and persuade people to come to know God, the same way that Noah tried to warn people of the coming flood, I need to warn people of the coming destruction, and tell them about the free gift of life in Christ. I need to be bold in Christ, and everyday I want to see more come to know him. I KNOW that the end will come, and I want to tell as many about heaven as I can, so they too, can worship our creator forever and forever in his holy place. As I prepare for my trip on the World Race, I hope and pray, as I hope you will, that with boldness I can proclaim the name of Jesus so that the lost may hear the good news. That I may be bold in my words and actions, and that people would KNOW Christ more and more.
