HOLAAAAAA!

Side story before the main stories begin. I met my wife in Spanish class in college where I obviously put the chocolate charm on her. Get it? Because I’m chocolate. Yeah, you get it. Before Madalyn and I were anything, I used to flirt with her because she’s gorgeous! I used to call her my Novia! Which means girlfriend in Spanish (clever right?) and one time the Spanish teacher asked me a question in class, probably why was I talking to Madalyn and I told Mrs. Ferell that Madalyn was my Novia. MRS. FERELL THEN PROCEEDED TO CHUCKLE AND I QUOTE ” NEVER IN YOUR WILDEST DREAMS” HAHAHAHA!!!!! Guys, people don’t usually get me too good, but SHE GOT ME. All I could do was sit there like this

I WAS SHOOK! 

Anyways, let’s get right to it, with a question.

 

What’s the point of being a Christian, if we’re not going to be a Christian?

Are you confused??!!?! Let Me Explain!

This is something I’ve asked myself for years.

Reread the sentence and when the word Christian makes its first appearance, look at it as a noun, and then the second time it appears, read it as a verb. 

Round 2

What’s the point of being a Christian, if we’re not going to be a Christian?

The reason I think that this is such a great question is because of the way it challenges us as Christians.

It’s easy to claim to be a Christian, it’s easy to post about it, it’s easy for me to write about it, but God calls us to more than that. He calls us to be doers.

In high school, I was known as a Christian leader in my school. I would post about God often but would rarely read my Bible. I used to point out others people’s sins while I would be sinning in a different way. I used to say, “all glory to God” but often it was more false humility.

I was not an intentional Christian. I loved the idea of being a Christian and being seen as a leader, but I didn’t want to put the work in.

During the Summer of 2012 at Church camp, God spoke directly to my heart and challenged me to be a DOER. Which lead me to my life verse. James 1:22

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

James challenges us to not just hear it at church, on a podcast, from this blog post or when you read, BUT TO TAKE WHAT YOU HAVE READ AND PUT IT INTO ACTION.

After that church camp, my life was forever changed. I stopped sitting around the house playing Xbox on the weekends and started going into the community and intentionally serving. I began to be intentional with my conversations and ask people if I could be praying for them right there (the reactions were great). I began to intentionally read and pray without rushing my time with God. My life was truly changed.

At the end of that verse, it talks about self-deception. Why? BECAUSE IT IS SO EASY TO DECEIVE OURSELVES. Satan wants us to deceive ourselves. He wants us to think we’re faithfully living for God. He wants us to think that us reading the bible once or twice a week, and praying before dinner is good enough. He wants us to believe that as long as we serve a few times a year then that’s good enough.

Don’t believe his lies. Don’t let him deceive you.

Live Faithfully for God! Consume His word on a daily basis! Pray with a heart of thankfulness daily! Serve, even when you’re not at a shelter or on a mission trip daily! These things should be apart of our daily rhythm 

Challenge: Self-examine your walk and see where you might be deceiving yourself.

Think about 5-10 of the “best” Christians you know. What separates them from the rest of the Christians? Most likely it’s intentionality. What makes that person such a compassionate person, it’s probably the way that they intentionally reach out to you in your time of need. What makes that person seem like such a loving person? Probably because they intentionally seek for those around them to know Jesus because of the way that they show love.

I think many of us are aware. Especially on Sundays. Right after church when we’re convicted about our sin, in those moments we are very AWARE, but we’re not called to just be aware. We’re called to live a life of intentionality. Awareness isn’t enough.

In Conclusion

We have a responsibility to be intentional. Intentionality is really just a mindset shift! As the bible says, we should set our minds on the things above. (Colossians 3:2) When we began to focus on our friends, strangers bosses, the people around us, God can quickly use our intentionality to change lives. My encouragement to you is to live a life with intentionality! Live a life with purpose. Know why you’re doing things, and do it with two things. Passion and Intentionality. When those two traits meet, amazing things can happen.

 

That’s it for this Blog! This was my last blog specifically about my core values! If you haven’t looked at the other two blogs about Passions and Comfortability go check them out! I’m not sure what I’ll be blogging about next but stay tuned!

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We all need encouragement! No matter the season.