Do the “...scars i have on my body show that I am the slave of Jesus....” (Galatians 6:17)?

Guest Post

This question is food for thought! Imagine you bought a passion fruit and from the outside it looked like one, inside you’d expect to see...numerous seeds maybe? A soft juicy interior? But if you cut it open to find that it has no seeds whatsoever but instead has a very hard centre, you’d question it?!

It holds parallel to our lives as Christians. From the outside we can be seen to possess certain characteristics especially in this day and age, with freedom of choice! Anyone can be a Christian regardless of nationality which is a beautiful thing!

Unlike other faiths we cannot be physically distinguished as easily when casually walking down the high street (well unless you are a nun or a member of the clergy). So it is through our words and deeds that the God we serve is reflected! I once heard someone say “if my character doesn’t speak for itself my words mean nothing”. Sad to say we have become one of the most liberal ‘religious groups’, and society cannot see a difference in us because we’ve blended in with the world that much!

Compromise is something which needs to be tackled head on! As a muslim wouldn’t compromise their belief in not eating pork we need to resist compromising our belief to please man and shift the focus back onto pleasing He who is worthy: God! A few months ago I faced what was then a dilemma of being invited to a club for the birthday of one of my cousins. As soon as I got the invite I knew that I shouldn’t go!? As a carrier of Christ I thought “does He want to be there?!” But I didn’t want to ‘let her down’ Hmmm, okay so who is my master in this situation? I want to please God but also please man!

I pondered long and hard and knew that she wouldn’t understand why I didn’t want to go and try and persuade me to come! Then I got thinking to myself: as much as Christ has delivered us from bondage and given us this free will, we shouldn’t shift the focus and move further away from Him! We now have Christians stating the Christian community are hypocrites, and it’s all because our lives do not match with that which God designed for us! To-be-set-apart! We are not meant to blend in with everyone!

Trust me your reward is coming!! Yes it’s hard, just as a chameleon we feel more comfortable blending in with our environment, we feel secure and safer that way. But this life is not permanent and the eternity you would live will be oh so rewarding! Trust! We do not want to go evangelising on the street anymore because we don’t want to lose our rep?! Our rep that only lasts till we slip up! Is it really worth it...

“Every athlete in training submits to strict discipline, in order to be crowned with a wreath that will not last; but we do it for one that will last forever” (1 Corinthians 10:25)

Christ died for you, He loves you, yes you, every part of you even the parts you don’t like and He’s never left your side! Sometimes we feel as though he’s far but in times like that guess who’s moved? All He’s asking is for us to be His representatives. He suffered majorly yet STILL worshipped His Father! How many of us would readily accept nails in our hands for your child casually lying to their teacher?!...
But Christ did and He sure didn’t deserve it but He still did! 

...”Make sure that Christ’s death on the cross is not robbed of its power”  (1 Corinthians 1:17)

Some of us live in parts of the world where our love for Christ cannot be declared freely, but individuals in such countries are doing more than we who live in a free society! Let’s do something about it family... 

“If you suffer because you are a Christian, don’t be ashamed of it, but thank God that you bear Christ’s name”  (1 Peter 4:16)

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