Paul was a man who knew how to lead, encourage, and discipline the body of Christ. The New Testament is full of letters he wrote to the body of believers every where. I have been wondering what He would write to the believer’s of today.
To all the believers in the United States, the faithful in wanting to follow after Christ Jesus.
“May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ cause your hearts to over flow more and more for one another.”
I am so thankful when I think about how many believers are wrestling through an authentic and real relationship with Him. I am thankful for how many people I hear about who are pursuing intimacy more with him. I love hearing stories about how people are coming to know God more and making him known to others. I exhale when I hear about people experiencing real forgiveness and grace. God is real and has real forgiveness to be known.
I too often forget that Jesus came to this earth so that we might know new life of redemption and hope. Jesus surrendered his whole life to die for our sins. He died so that we might know different and better life than the world around us knows. Jesus addressed the darkness that fills the earth because of sin. We as believers know different. We know a God who is alive and desperately wanting a relationship with us forever.
When Jesus died, he prayed that we, as believers, would be one as he and the father are one. There is a lot of division going on in our culture. We lack community when life is meant to be shared and edified together. We are meant to be one body built up of many parts that work together to make Christ known. We know God, and our lives are meant to make him known.
I want to encourage you not to choose silence over standing up for your faith. Jesus stated that we all will have trouble, but with him there is different in how we know and deal with that trouble. Our lives will look and sound foolish to those who do not know God. Decisions we make should resemble our faith and beliefs. I guarantee that both your faith and beliefs will be challenged. Please remember that our times of hardship and darkness have an answer and a hope that look foreign to those who don’t know God. We do. Let’s choose to take steps to act like it.
Do not want what the world wants. Do not follow the ways that look like short cuts. Choose the hard, because the process is what builds character and dependence on God. Apart from him we can do nothing. Want a life that looks like integrity, forgiveness, and love. Be a person who is faithful and committed. These two characters are almost extinct in our culture. Be the different.
Speak up and fight for those who can’t fight for themselves. Make every effort to own your relationship with God not matter what the cost. Love no matter what, because unconditional love comes too often with a price tag.
There are so many options and distractions to silence God’s voice. There are a million messages that solicit and entice you to remove the deity from God. Our world is full of images and people to worship. None will ever satisfy or be enough compared to who God is.
As believers, believe different and live different. Surrender your life to him who saved it. Always want more of him and less of the tangible. Don’t choose the easy, because there is life and freedom to be known in the hard.
As believers, we know a real God and have the real answer for what the world is missing. Be the answer.
What do you have to say to our culture?
I just love your heart, Mo’z. What you wrote seems so fitting, not just in terms of what we as Believers need to hear but also in the sense that it really captures the passions and messages of your own heart. I love seeing that take shape.
“Believe different and live different.” Yes and amen…
Thank you b’z. I hope it captures my heart. I think Paul’s letters captured his every time.
Thank you for creating my tag line! I love it!
Yea, I needed to hear that.
Thanks!
What would you tell believers, Stac?
Also needed to hear that as well. Thanks!
Hey Matt, what are your thoughts for todays church?
This was great. It is an awesome way to address culture and believers.
If I were to address culture or the world. I would tell them I’m sorry. I’m sorry for how I’ve acted better than them and I’m sorry for my counterparts doing the same. I would tell them I’m sorry for how I have hurt them. I would hope they believe that it is sincere.
Michael, that’s awesome!! I’m sure a lot of people would need to hear that. Thank you for your humility. I appreciate your heart.
amen! thank you for reminding me to not follow the ways that look like short cuts and to keep on choosing the hard…
He’s got big things just for you, Katy! Don’t sell yourself short by short cuts. I need that advice for myself as well.
Mhmmm.
I’m not sure what I’d want to say. But I want to live as a letter that reads intimacy with Christ, sitting in tension, dependence on Him, humility, trust, authenticity, weakness, and brokenness. I want to be read and to be interpreted more like Christ. I want God to spell those things out with my life, “written” in legible fonts.
Your letter is being written. Grove city is being rocked!
“Don’t choose the easy, because there is life and freedom to be known in the hard.”
Great thoughts! Although I haven’t written a tangible letter, I feel in a way that as a parent I do this every day. I’m encouraging, correcting, shaping and directing my children. I am a model for them of what godly behavior should be, and when I fail I have to acknowledge that and show them God’s grace for us. This is a great letter, Tracee, and a fun challenge. :)
That’s so awesome!! You are a living reminder of who God is. Your kids are so blessed to have you speaking into their who he is. They will know him just by who you are!
what a powerful letter…love your heart and the way you express it…I will be watching here. THANKS
Hey Becky! Thanks for shout out and encouragement!
i’m still thinking about all this… and i am reminded of II corinthians 3:3 —
“You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
our very lives are to be lived as letters from Christ… to the world, to other Believers, to everyone around us. how differently i would live if i remained cognizant of that each and every moment.
what do i want my very life to say as a letter?? hmmmm…
Look at you marinating today! This goes with your post today of being ministry. Our lives are letters that people read and listen to. That is a huge weight of influence.
I know that your letter shows someone who cares deeply about who people are. You value the small things of another’s heart. You love deeply. You are more of a leader then you know or will ever give yourself credit for. Your Passion is for the lost who can’t find a voice or fight for themselves. You risk well. You choose hard because you know the worth. You trust when you have specific wounds with trust. You love inspite of fears. You value present & authentic wrestling rather then talking out of the safety of hindsight. You point to a God who is real. You are a great letter.
Grateful for being that kind of letter in my life. Thank you for you.
i want to hug you now. tight.
thank you for this, my sweetest friend…
I tell you the truth!
I’d tight you right back.
Very deep indeed. Thanks for this post, Tracee. :)
Hey Bianca! Thanks for the shout out! Hope life in CA is great.
My post should go live tomorrow about the letter I would write… it’s a lil different… but lent it self to a really cool devo time :) thanks for the challenge friend!
Live tomorrow: http://jennyrain.com/2010/10/isaiah-40/
you rocked this post pow-wow! i will write a “letter” and post it this weekend. =]
i wrote a post earlier this year… and i was reminded of it when i read this post. http://www.ricianne.com/2010/04/open-book.html (sorry for the shameless plug)… but when i read your blog and the tweets and even in the short text convos we’ve had, your life is indeed a story that is so written by Him and your faith is worthy to emulate. i just wanted to encourage you with that.
im thankful that God writes the letters of our lives so that one day, the future generations can read our stories and see His faithfulness in all the details.
here it is: http://www.ricianne.com/2010/10/if-i-wrote-letter-in-bible.html :: my epistle ;) ::