Trend

My mind is boggled down with topics. I think in terms of chapters and I have many ready and waiting to be written. I have one "chapter" I have been putting off for weeks to write but this one, for some reason, took precedence. I feel like it is imperative for us to talk about this especially in the present time and world we live. So, here I go... Our pastor's daughter wrote a song about the believer and the church. It talks about losing our pride and gaining more of Him; longing for Him to move mightily in our lives; to move in such a way that the world is shaken for Christ. One part of the song talks about the church and sings, "We will rise" repeatedly. I began thinking about my experience in the church for the past 21 years and whether or not the church is "rising." Are we, as believers, rising for Christ? Are we living in such a way that the world is turned inside out for Him? Are our lives so changed that we do not have to speak His name but His presence can be seen and felt through our lives? Church, sadly, I think we are failing. Church and Christianity are not trends to follow or a cultural lifestyle. Church is not place to be seen by a pastor showing that we are good people who do good churchy things. Church is not a place to find the best most popular group to try and fit into so we feel we belong. Christianity is not a game nor a trend or a Facebook status. Right now, proclaiming a conservative lifestyle and saying you are a Christian as trendy as clean eating and holistic medicine. However, I do not feel that is the way God envisioned our faith when He sent His Son in our place. "But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Matthew 7:14 The Word tells us that the road to Jesus, to Heaven, is small and few find it. I believe ALL are given the opportunity to find, believe, and receive salvation but it's what we do with it that matters. Do our lives change? Or, do we accept salvation and continue on our merry way? Do we have a deep longing and desire to become more like Him and less like the sin of the world? Can people see a change in us? Not perfection, but a real change that exclaims the life of Jesus and his desires? Are we rising or following a trend? "Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4 Many interrupt this verse to mean that if we pray hard enough, live faithfully (in terms of how we think), go to church, and serve He will give us whatever our little hearts desire. I see this verse differently and think it pertains to this very topic. The more we delight in our Savior the more our desires become His desires. We are changed as we draw closer to Him making His desires our desires and giving us an understanding that His ways are SO much better than ours. Friends, we live in a world of trends. A world where "What's trending today" is a top news story. Jesus isn't a trend to follow but a complete life transformation that should radiate outward drawing others to Him. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things become new."2 Corinthians 5:17 Become a new creations. He is inviting you to change; a change like you have never experienced before and so awesomely wonderful that you cannot contain it and have to share His love and radiance. Don't make Jesus just another trend in your life. I will sacrifice being known as the rule follower or prude or whatever else they want to call me for the sake of living for my Savior and living a life changed. I will love when no one else wants to love. I will not be perfect until Heaven but will work toward being more like Jesus everyday of my life taking ownership of my sin and growing in my faith. I will stand firm on the one who saved. Accept His love and tremendous life He has for you by letting go of the standards of this world that will never fulfill you and hold onto the One who made you and wants to give you an extraordinary life. "Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day." Psalm 139:13-14 Love & Blessings, Megan