October 1
Red Letters: What Happened?
Thursday, October 1, 2009 @ 10:01 am by Josh Burcham
Jesus is preaching His first sermon and it happens to be on a mount. Probably why people call it, His sermon on a mount. I know, I’m a funny guy. Okay, that was pretty lame. Anyways, a little into His message, Matthew 5:13-16, he says this:
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
We live in a world today where the word “Christian” brings negative feelings to people. If you went to the street or asked some of your non-Christian friends to describe what their definition of a Christian is, most likely it is going to be very unflattering. Why is that? What happened? We have a the greatest story ever told, Jesus’ Gospel, which brings hope, joy, fulfillment, love, peace and the list could go on and on. This life is hard, we all know that. This life down right sucks at times. And it breaks my heart that people can go through those low times with no hope in sight. I’m what you would call a Christian. I follow Jesus Christ. But I still have days and times in my life where life is really difficult, but I always have hope. Hope that is will always get better; maybe not in this life, but it will in heaven. I know that I have a savior out there that loves me more than anyone one this earth ever could. Now this is the message that we carry. The message of Jesus; a message of love. Though we carry this amazing message we are hated by most. Why is that? What happened?
And when you answer that question you’re getting it wrong if it doesn’t start with, “because we suck at being Christians.” We are called to be the light of this world, bring hope to those that are hopeless, bring love to those that aren’t love and giving peace to those that are restless. And nine times out of ten, we are condemning those that believe different than us. I’m pretty sure if we were to define love, condemning isn’t a would we would use. Remember, God loves each person that walks this earth. Yeah, there is probably some sin in their life and they would probably tell you there is, but God’s love, loves anyways. Just like He loves you, a sinner.
The only difference between you and them is that they don’t know Jesus. The one that brings hope, joy, fulfillment, love, peace and salvation from those sins. Now going out their and be that light. Stop living for yourself and show people that life could really be better and that it could really have purpose with Jesus.
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Good post, Josh. I heard this quote once, referring to Christians, our belief in God, Jesus, the resurrection, etc. It went something like “We have such extraordinary beliefs but live such ordinary lives.”
You’re right, we have the hope, joy, peace, and love from the Creator who sent His son to die for our sins; but do we act like it? Hardly.
Comment by Steven Caress — October 1 @ 11:40 am
Thanks. It’s been an area of conviction for me over the last couple of months. Especially with the opportunity at work. Just loving people in ways they don’t expect.
Loving God and Loving People – You can’t truly do one without the other.
Josh
Comment by Josh Burcham — October 1 @ 4:59 pm
Very good point. While I think you can love people without loving God, you can’t love God and not love people. Thanks, I never thought of that.
Comment by Steven Caress — October 2 @ 1:04 pm