Live Louder!

Life isn't easy.  Everyone knows that.  For a follower of Jesus in particular, life can be a great challenge.  Why you might ask?  Because we are given specific instructions to share Jesus with the world (Matthew 28).  Sharing Jesus isn't just telling people about Him—It's living it out so that people notice something different in you.  In John 7:7 Jesus makes a very blatant point.  He was speaking to his disciples about a festival to attend.  Jesus told his disciples to go because they were not known as his followers yet so they weren't in danger.  What was the danger?  Death, prison, ridicule.  Jesus says: The world can't hate you, but it does hate me because I accuse it of doing evil.  Jesus' point is simply look, the world hates me because I call it what it is.  In other words, the world recognizes that Jesus is different because he didn't live like the world, in fact, he accused the world of being evil.

It should be the same in our lives as well.  People should notice that we are not the same as we once were.  Maybe we aren't even the same as we were  yesterday.  The difference is Jesus.  It's Jesus showing us in our life what is evil and what is good and then acting on the good and not acting on the evil.  Being a follower of Jesus requires action.  If we do not follow through on the things Jesus shows us in our lives then we will never fully experience life to the full as Jesus describes.

Dr. Chris Marshall of New Life Christian Ministries  states the following, helpful formula, for followers of Jesus.

INFORMATION + APPLICATION = TRANSFORMATION

Like wise,

INFORMATION - APPLICATION = INFORMATION

Do you want a transformed life?  Then ACT on the words of Jesus and the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  Show people the difference.  If they don't notice, I would ask the question: Are you really following Jesus?  The Apostle Paul tells us to not copy the ways of this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds—through Jesus—so that we become a new person by the way we think.  God is always making something new.  He is constantly redeeming his creation.  If we are followers of Jesus then we should experience Jesus making something new in our life every day.  Even if that new thing is a simple smile where there used to be a frown.

The world will hate you because you will accuse it of it's evil through your life.  That doesn't matter.  What matters is your relationship with Jesus and how seriously you take Matthew 28.  If you take it seriously people will notice.  If you don't, they'll notice that too.