I am 18 years old now, big woop! Yeah, I am a Christian, that’s right. I believe in Jesus, I believe that he died for my sins. I believe that there is a heaven and a hell, yeah I believe all that. But so what? Seriously, so what? Dude even demons believe and know who Jesus is! Ok here is the deal, I want you to get one thing straight, alright, one thing straight about Christianity. Numero one, it is not a religion. Numero b, it was never even about religion in the first place. It is, however, about having a relationship with Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior who died for us all on the Cross. Even though you are not Christian, you have probably heard this before: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and Only son, that who so ever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Ok so what does that mean anyway? Glad you asked. It basically means that God loves all so much that He was gave His son to the world to be crucified, so that we might live. He was willing to give up the life of his own son, his only son, just so that me and you can live. How crazy is that? Can you imagine a parent sacrificing the life of their child just so that some strangers can go on living? No one on earth can do that, because quiet frankly as people we tend to only care about those we know and those that surround us the most. But with God, He gave His son to the world because if He did not do that, we would all have been dead. Ok in a nut shell here is what happened: The world had become evil and turned against God. People were full of all kinds of sin such as homosexuality, gluttony, murder, scams and cheats, adultery and all sorts of sin. So because God had created us and He saw that His creation had turned on Him, He was going to destroy us, until Jesus stepped up and said that He will go on our behalf just so that we might, basically, have our lives spared. How crazy is that. No man could ever do that, not even the bravest of the bravest. But Jesus did. So He was born through a virgin Mary, (I know pretty cool huh?), and He was 100% man and 100% God, don’t ask me how, He just was. So He lived on earth for 30 years and He preached the Good News, aka the Gospel, aka again His Father’s message, aka again again He preached about salvation because He brought salvation to all mankind. He performed many miracles, He healed the lame, blind, sick, raised people from the dead, turned water into wine, feed over 5000 people with 5 loaves of bread after praying for them, and the man was just crazy awesome with the things that he did. But still people refused to believe in Him and some even said that he was blaspheming against the laws of Moses (those were the laws that the Jews followed at the time). So long story short, He was crucified and then three days later he rose from the dead. He is a living God! Science has not found the remains of Jesus any where, no bones, no nothing and you know why? Because he rose from the dead! That’s right, I serve a living God. So you say “Grace, what is your point?” Well my point is that sometimes we tend to take life for granted and we don’t even know it. I mean if you think about it, we don’t even really care about anybody else but ourselves. Therefore then we are selfish, its part of our so called human nature. I am a Christian (as I am sure you‘ve figured that by now) and I have observed something among us Christians. Some of those that call themselves “Christians” are sometimes (as much as it pains me to say) the worst when it comes to being a ‘good Christian’ and all that jazz. They are the ones who say “oh the Bible says Thou shall not Judge thy neighbour…” but they are the first to do so. They are the ones who are loudest in church screaming hallelujah every time the pastor finishes a sentence. “Glory! Amen! Jesus! Yes!” And the occasional “Preach It! More, more!” and all the shouts they know and yet they are the first to curse at the driver that cuts them off on the highway. “Be careful what you allow your eyes to see,” they say and yet they watch shows with explicit footage of all things naked and wrong and explicit language. They are the ones who in church sing “O Jesus hallelujah, worthy worthy I love you Jesus” and while singing that they are bowling in tears, you know, Niagara falls all the way, the whole pack, snot and all. But then after service is over, before they even get home they tune into the radio or ipod or whatever listening device and they jam to music filled with lyrics that express sexual behavior and degrading of genders and races. Yup, those are Christians, sound worse than any other non Christian people huh? They sure do and they are, sadly, but its true. But my question is why and or how? How is it possible to call yourself a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ but still love to indulge in the filth of this world? It should not be possible, in fact it is not possible for you to live in two worlds or serve two masters at once. Jesus said so Himself, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24). See, He said so! So therefore fellow friends, family, people, if you call yourself a Christian but you do not live like one, you might want to check and evaluate yourself and make sure that you are in the right boundaries with Christ. This does not only go for Christians its goes for everyone else too. You can’t serve two masters at once, dude that’s just suicide, seriously! Oh yeah and also I did not write this piece to ramble about something that you might forget (and you probably will) after reading. I wrote it to challenge you. Ok on a more serious note here guys, no joking. I am challenging you, all of you to get off your bench and get in the game. Tell your coach (who btw is yourself) that you are tired of being a bench warmer and tired of waiting to be put in the game for every game of the entire season. Tell your coach that you are ready and you know that you can do it. Ask, no, tell, no no that’s not right either, demand that your coach put you in the game because the scores are tight and time is limited. Guys if you don’t understand what I am saying, I am telling you to stop being a lazy potato in your faith and do what Jesus told you to do, go out and preach to the world what He has done for them, for us. Yes of course its not easy, don’t you think I know that! I mean being made fun of, or being ignored, or being afraid to look weird because you‘re talking about this Jesus, I know all that because I go through it. Sometimes I care and sometimes I really don’t because its not me missing out on something, its those making fun of me or those that refuse to listen to God‘s word. But now I force and will continue to force myself to stand up for Christ no matter what because I love Jesus with all my heart, all my soul, and all my mind. I really do and if you think this is cheesy then, I don’t know what to tell you except go find some crackers or something. But seriously folks, Jesus died for you and me and the least we can do for Him who took the blame for us, who jumped in front of the bullet so to say, is be forever grateful to Him and pretty much do what ever He wants us to do. Peace my people! Just kidding, but please take this seriously and you might be surprised what happens, I know I have been may times J
Chao!