Jesus is No Private Matter

The other day I saw a picture that said "Jesus died in public, so don't just live for Him in private". This reminded me of those posts on Facebook (and before that the chain letter emails) saying "if you don't forward this, you don't really love Jesus" or that "by not sharing it you're denying Jesus" in some way. I don't share the those type of things because our faith is based on more than just a copy and paste status or chain letter. If you don't know that I love my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ by how I live my everyday life, then I am not doing my job as a His follower. A status update or resending a chain letter won't change that much. However, allow me to say a few words because there is a point in all of this that we often overlook, especially in western civilization.

All too often, I hear, "I don't talk about religion because it's a private matter." Umm...no my friend, it's not a private matter. Christ died publicly for our sins. If we really recognize Him as Lord & Savior, He will be the center of our lives, even in the times when we are wallowing in ourselves. Way too many times in our culture we complain about the trials we go through, indulge our fleshly desires, or just downright think we have it so hard when in actuality, there are those of our brothers and sisters in foreign countries who live every day of their lives in a reality where they just might lose their life for Jesus. And they do it willingly. They live their lives boldly for Christ, while doing it carefully too might I add, and the Gospel of Christ flourishes. Here, we exclaim that religion is to be kept private because it's such a hot topic. Here, we have a tendency to leave our faith at the door of the church on Sunday or our home in the morning before headed out to work or run errands for the day. If Jesus is being excluded from our public life, yes even on Facebook, then we may have made Him Savior, but we haven't made Him Lord over everything.......yet.

My friends, we Christians are to live publicly exclaiming the love of Christ everywhere, especially in our faults. And I know we'd all confess that we've got our shortcomings. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:9b-10 (HCSB), "Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me. So because of Christ, I am pleased in weaknesses, in insults, in catastrophes, in persecutions, and in pressures. For when I am weak, then I am strong." Where we are weak, Christ is strong. So, let's show the power of Christ in our lives, because I know that I've fallen down too many times to count or remember. However, I know every time my Savior gets me to my feet to walk forward again. And for that my friends, I simply cannot live my faith in private. So yes, I will live a life publicly for Christ. I may not share those status updates all the time, but let me say again, if people can't tell that we love Christ by our every day lives, then something we're doing needs changed...we need to make Him LORD over everything, not just our private life.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Outward Disciplines: Simplicity, Solitude, Submission and Service

The Half-Truth Problem & The Life of Christ: The Sermon on the Mount Link

An offering devotion...something to think about