There are approximately 2.1 billion people who call themselves Christians in the world today. According to the dictionary a Christian is someone who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ. As a Christian for the last twenty years of my life, I spent most of my life committed to myself. It’s only been over the last 8 months of my life that I have taken a back seat to God. Though, I knew and believed in the teachings of Jesus Christ I chose to ignore them. It was his Grace that turned me around and I’m eternally thankful for it. As a Christian I believed in the Truth but ignored it. So my first question is do you believe in Jesus Christ? Think about that question for a minute or two. It appears to be a very easy question, however if we truly believe in Jesus, we should believe he spoke the Truth. In fact as you probably know, Jesus said, “I am The Way, The Truth, and The Life”. So what does that mean, “The Way, The Truth, and The Life”. Jesus is The Only Way to heaven, He is the Absolute Truth, and He is Eternal Life. Jesus also said, “No one comes to the Father Except through me.” Jesus is the foundation to the Christian life, so in order to be a Christian you have to believe Jesus is The Only Way, The Absolute Truth, and Eternal Life. So if Jesus is the truth and everything he says is true, as followers of Jesus we should be able to except all his teachings. Right…? What about Luke 9:23-26 “And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” Jesus doesn’t play around, his only request is that we give up our lives for him. Now the big question, are we bigger in our lives or is God bigger? Are we willing to die to self daily? Are we willing to embrace persecution for the sake of Christ? These are definitely not easy tasks, in fact I’m just starting to attempt to embrace this teaching. I thank God our weaknesses are made strong through Him, because I am in no way strong enough to accomplish this task. That’s where I believe faith comes in. In Romans 1:5 it speaks about the “obedience of faith for the sake of his name”. I believe a part of faith is making yourself vulnerable for God. Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” I’m calling out all Christians when I say it’s time to allow Christ to be bigger in our lives than we are. It’s time we stop protecting ourselves from persecution. It’s time for us to stand up for what we believe in. It’s time for us to recklessly love those we deem as unlovable. It’s time for us to encourage right and pray for those who persecute us. It’s time for us to stop relying only on our own knowledge but instead rely on faith though the power of the Holy Spirit. I Corinthians 16:13-14 “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. LET ALL THAT YOU DO BE DONE IN LOVE.”
