Be The Light To This World

If you've been around me long enough, you've heard me say this a lot-Christianity is not just a religion, it is a lifestyle. I don't know why, but i'm just led to blog about this today. I think often times, we get so caught up in working and serving in church that we forget to check our hearts. We forget the relational part of being Christians. I like an illustration Pastor Chika of Resurrection House for All Nations gave. He said the cross represents two things- The vertical aspect represents our relationship with God, while the horizontal aspect represents our relationships with our fellow man. If we want to be/remain in good standing with God, we have to work on our relationships with people around us. He also said something that struck me. He said God always blesses us through someone. Think about it for a second. Every favor, open door, etc, usually comes through someone. When you ask God for something, he uses someone to bless you, it doesn't fall from heaven. In the same way, most heart ache, sadness, etc also comes from our relationships with one another. So, knowing this, can we now start working on our relationships? Let me go off tangent a little bit and also address something else. I'm always observing people and I've noticed that there are people that just make Christians look bad. They never crack a smile, you'll think nothing good has ever happened in their lives. Or the ones with moods that change like the weather. They smile at you today, and act like they don't know you tomorrow. I'm not saying this because i am perfect. Far from it! As a matter of fact, i speak to myself through this blog. I only say these things because i believe our lives should be a reflection of God's love for us. I believe our lives should draw people to God. If you didn't know, we are called to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Let's look at Matt 5:13-16

Explanation from my NLT Study Bible. Love it!

Meditate on these verses and ask yourself these questions- Does my life inspire others? Do people want to know more about God because of the kind of life i live? Do people see me and say, "wow, there's something different about him/her"? Has anyone sought after Christ because of me? Often times, we focus on prosperity, faith, service, etc and forget the most important of all things. Love! You show love through your relationships. Speak in tongues all you want, dance around church all you want, memorize the entire Bible all you want, if your heart towards your neighbor is evil, and if you're not affecting anyone with your life, you're useless to God. I'm sorry to be harsh, but i speak to myself as well. Isn't it amazing that you're more prone to find malice, jealousy, segregation, and envy in the church, the same place people are supposed to come to for spiritual healing. Then people end up leaving church because of us. Wow! we're called to draw people to Christ, but we end up driving people away from Christ. How can anyone want to serve your God when there's no difference between you and the rest of the world; when you don't love your neighbor; when you're quick to anger; when you're proud, when you're so uptight and unapproachable. Please, allow the light of God shine through you and change lives.

Love,

Ak