Life reflects the heart...

Whoa I'm writing two days in a row?! Why yes, yes I am. In all actuality I'm on duty, can't leave the building, and am avoiding doing my video analysis for my portfolio defense on Monday. And, well, avoiding moping around that I chose this weekend to be on duty when everyone is out having fun and I can't go. But I digress.

I was catching up on a couple of the devotions I missed this last week, and I found one that stuck with me a lot, especially after last night's post. The verse for the day was 

As in water face reflects face, so a man's heart reveals the man.

-Proverbs 27:19

This, paired with the devotion that followed, really struck me. Some of the highlights include:

"The reflection of our heart is seen in our lives as an exact replica. Our lives testify to what is in our heart."

"How someone lives reveals to you the things they hold dear in their heart."

I had a conversation a couple of weeks ago with my good friend Elisabeth; we were catching up over coffee and updating each other on our lives. She told me a story about a woman that she works with. She said that this woman curses a lot and is anything but pleasant to her coworkers. Elisabeth said it's a known thing to avoid her. Anyway, this woman wasn't at work one day and was apparently at a church function, and coworkers said the woman was heavily involved in her church. Elisabeth explained her shock to me and then had an alarming thought that I think a lot of Christians face at one time or another- "Are people shocked when they learn that I love Jesus?" I think the fact that Elisabeth and I (and many of my friends) can talk about Jesus and our love of God in public, that we aren't afraid to pray over our meals, etc., reveals that we certainly aren't ashamed in our faith, but are people shocked when they learn that I have a heart for the Lord?

A heart for the Lord.

Is that evident in the way I act towards others? When people meet me or interact with me is there something different about me? I've interacted with several people that I just knew from the minute they stepped in the room that they were Christians. I could tell by the way they introduced themselves and by the kindness they immediately showed to others. Then one way or another this would be confirmed either in something they or someone else said. I wasn't surprised. 

When I was going through my depression last year I prayed so much that God's light would shine before me and that when people met me they would see something different, but that it wouldn't be me they would see, but God. One of the greatest compliments I ever received was from a resident last year; she said that in my email welcoming the residents to the hall she could tell I was a Christian. An email?! Talk about something impersonal, but she said she could just tell. 

My fear is that I've lost that "sparkle." Not because God isn't glowing within me, but am I allowing it to shine through me? Am I allowing His love to shine through my insecurities? Through my shortcomings? Am I boasting in my weaknesses to bring Him all the more glory? I can say that honestly, at times, no. 

I want people to look at me and see Jesus. I don't want others to be surprised when they see my SAO letters or the cross engraved in my ring. I want the cross engraved on my heart so that when they see me they see love, forgiveness, honesty, kindness, and friendship. I want them to see a goodness in me- a purity in my heart for God. But the goodness is not of myself- it's of the Holy Spirit and the fact that daily I surrender my heart to God's will and walk with the faith that He is in control. I ask that those of you reading this help keep me accountable to the things I pray for.

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace,seasoned with salt, so you may know how to answer everyone.

-Colossians 4:5-7

Smile, God loves you! 

Contemporary Christianity

This is more of a thought rant post...but then again, what post isn't. So there's this adorable church in Athens that always has a fantastic pumpkin patch every year. Personally, I don't know anyone who attends that church (at least that I know of, but you never know being in a sorority with 130 Christian women), but I have nothing to base this off of other than the sign that's at the front of their church. For the longest time this summer and early fall it read "Contemporary Christianity in the Classic City" (for those of you that don't know, Athens is called the "Classic City"). So I'm sure what they meant by this had more to do with contemporary music, but it brought a thought to my mind every time I drove past it...

What exactly is "contemporary" Christianity? 

With Christmas just around the corner, we know that Christianity has been around for awhile, so what does it mean to be "contemporary"? I think of contemporary dance which is kind of like a cross between ballet, lyrical, and jazz. If the Bible is God's Holy Word, then how can we live according to the Bible and be contemporary? Then it kind of hit me: We live as contemporary Christians each and every time we justify our sins. 

We live in a fallen world. It's the truth. And our world screams of sin- just turn on the TV or radio or walk into a bookstore- the temptation of sin is everywhere. Because of this, it is so easy to justify the sins that we commit. "I can vote and die for my country at 18 so it's ok for me to drink even though it's illegal." "The Bible was written thousands of years ago- they just didn't know how hard it is to abstain from sex, so it's OK if I do it." "Everyone on TV tears each other down and they're famous and make a lot of money, so it's OK for me to do that, too." "My parents are just so old they have no idea what they're talking about, so I'll snap and be rude and that's OK." And the list goes on and on and on... 

Please hear me out- I have made many of these justifications for my behavior in my life and the sins I commit. It took falling into my deep pit of depression for me to realize just how much I justified my behavior, and I catch myself doing it every day. I think it's when we stop realizing how many justifications that we make that we fall into this trap of "contemporary."

To me, contemporary means current, or up-to-date. We, as Christians, were meant to live lives above reproach. In a world full of justifications, it's up to us to make sure we don't become contemporary. To say that people in the time the Bible was written didn't have temptations is ridiculous. I think it was just last year when I was sitting in an SAO Bible study when one of my sisters brought up the fact that Jesus was a young man- I'm sure he definitely struggled with living above reproach when women approached him. Jesus is the ideal because he resisted the temptations. He went to his Father, first and foremost. He wasn't immune to sin, he just refused to succumb to it. And if we're meant to be Christ-like in how we live our lives every day, we, too, should go to the Father when we are tempted. When we find ourselves justifying our actions (which we undoubtedly will), we ask for forgiveness. The glory? He forgives us tenfold, and then our sins are as far as the east is from the west. 

All I know is that I want to be anything but contemporary.

For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity. - Proverbs 24:16

Smile, God loves you!