Live Out Loud!

Currently playing: Live Out Loud
Artist: Steven Curtis Chapman

Last week I was reading through Galatians and today I just want to focus on three particular verses. As school slowly approaches, I have been reflecting on this coming year and how it SHOULD be and WILL be different from last year. There's so much going on in college and it's so easy to get caught up with it all and put God on the back burn or only for those times we feel we reeeeaaaallly really need Him. However, the truth is that, as an ambassador for Christ, my daily actions should be a reflection of Christ in me. Keeping that in mind, here are the verses:

1.

"Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ"- Galatians 1:10

2.

"But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel I said unto Peter before them all, if thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?"- Galatians 2:14

3.

"By now after that ye have known God or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggerly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?" - Galatians 4:9

The first verse is about being a people pleaser and putting people on a higher pedestal than God. The thing is that, it's so easy to that, to want to fit in with the world around you. Whether it be getting tipsy or drunk with friends, using our tongue to cause damage, or simply not telling friends the WHOLE truth about the gospel (Jesus is the ONE and ONLY way to eternal life) and just telling them what they might want to hear, the truth of the matter is those actions are done to blend in with men, in other words pleasing men and not God. If friends call you a lame for not going clubbing or maybe drinking with them, that's awesome. As Christians, we are called to stand out and our actions should be pleasing to God.

When I first read the second verse, I was like, yo, is Paul talking about me? This verse is basically bout being a hypocrite. I mean it's common sense. If you are a Christian and you go about doing things of the world, who are you then to tell non-believers about living a Christ-like life? It's pure hypocrisy. Earlier this summer, I have to admit, a good number of my actions were contradictory to how God calls us to live, and yet I had no problems saying I'm a Christian. So what then differentiates me from my non-believing friends when we all engaged in the same actions? Nothing. On that note, I'm proud to say, (with God's help) I'm now an EX-hypocrite and oh yea I'm getting a shirt to broadcast it. (Click here) 

The last verse speaks for itself. You simply can't mis-interpret it. If you are saved and I mean you KNOW about God's love, why then turn back to your previous ways? I know it's easy to say, but acting on it is the challenge. Well, that's my challenge for this year: not running back into bondage. It sounds so much worse when it's said like that. BONDAGE. But hey that's exactly what it is, the life of sin, is a life of bondage.

Well with that being said, I challenge you all, especially those going back to college, to join me in living by these verses this upcoming school year. Till next time, Ciao!