Because we’re not to measure ourselves by the standard of the world.

God formed us exactly how He wanted us to be, and He is still shaping us as our faith strengthens in Him. He designed our body-type, our personality, our intellectual capacity, everything about us. As we’re transformed by the renewing of our minds, He’s reshaping us to make us more Christlike. Not on of us is the same, each of us having different skills and talents and quirks. 

We were each planned by the Creator of the universe. We’re not an accident or a creation throw together at the last minute. He put thought, precious thought, into us. How He measures us differs from person to person. We don’t need to measure ourselves in comparison to someone else’s success or failure, but to our own God-given potential. It’s like in school, when everyone fails a test, but you scored the highest failing grade. Don’t celebrate because you did the best out of your peers if you didn’t do the best out of what you are capable of. In the same way, don’t consider yourself a better or worse Christian in comparison to someone else’s walk. That’s their walk, the path the God has chosen for them. Don’t worry about how strong or weak their faith is compared to your’s. We need to focus on being who God has called us to be, not on being who He called someone else to be. 

When Jesus offered the women at the well living water, he didn’t care that she was a woman or that she was a Samaritan or that she had been with many men. He didn’t care who she was to society. He cared about her soul. And as a result, she went back to her village and many more Samaritans came to believe. 

We have received living water, and we should be telling people where to receive it at every chance. We need to look past whether someone is beautiful or cool or socially acceptable and start sharing the Gospel. We need to look past whether someone is “good enough” to become saved. Everyone needs Christ, even the people you perceive to be the lowest members of society. You are no better than any other sinner. The only difference is that you’ve found grace, and you’re too selfish to share it. 

Right now, I’m sure you’re thinking of all the people you should have told about the love of Jesus that you didn’t. I know I am. I feel guilty over this all the time. If only I hadn’t cared what someone else would have thought if I talked to a specific person, they might have become saved.

We’ve all missed opportunities like that. Let’s not miss anymore. 

 ”Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” —Mark 16:15

Take a look at that first word:  Go. Pretty simple, huh? Just two letters, one syllable. Yet, it speaks volumes about our faith and relationship with God.

First, let’s take a look at several of the definitions:

1. to move on in course

2. to take a certain course or follow a certain procedure

3. to become impaired or weakened

4. to put or subject oneself

5. to assume the function or obligation of

6. to function properly

How do those defintions apply to Christianity? Well, following the sequence of the list, when we became Christians, we weren’t intended to just sit still. We are supposed to move forward in our lives and grow in our faith; we can’t grow in our faith unless we are following the procedure laid out for us in God’s word. We must become weak to expeirence God’s strength, becomingtotally reliant on God to get us through our current situation and all situations to come. Tied back to Mark 16:15, it is our obligation to go and tell the world about Jesus Christ. It is up to us whether we take responsibility ourselves instead of leaving for “someone else”. Finally, we are not functioning properly if we are not doing 1-5.Something is missing, something didn’t change in us. If we have truly been compelled by love (2 Corinthians 5:14), then we would be actively ministering to those around us and elsewhere the reconciliation God brought through Jesus’ death on the cross.

This should be a lifestyle. Not just merely witnessing, but being a witness. To just witness is a momentary action, but being a witness is daily. Being a witness should be who we are, not what we do. 

 I’ve been guilty many times of sitting by, leaving being a witness for someone else, but right now, I’m changing that. I’m gonna do, instead of just hearing. I’m gonna love, instead of just living. I’m gonna change the world.  What are you going to do?

I wonder, especially in my own life, how we make time to do everything but spend time with the very One who puts the breath in our lungs. 

God should be at the very forefront of our minds. The One our minds wander to. Everyday we should wake up and first thank Him for giving us another day. We should seek guidance in His Word before we ever step out the door into a world that hates Him. Everyday we should put on the full armor of God because our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the principalities of darkness. Yet we don’t. We step out into a war zone completely unprepared and wonder why we lose the battle. And all of this because we just didn’t have enough time. 

We say we feel distant from God, but if actually got into His Word, we would know that if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us (James 4:8). 
We feel distant from God because we keep Him at arm’s length. We say we want Him to be the Lord of our life, but we actually mean that He can have the parts of our life we’re comfortable with. If we would surrender wholly to Him, give Him all of us, He wouldn’t feel distant. We would be able to feel His Spirit moving and working in us and through us. 

But, oh, the Holy Spirit. If we actually spent time with God, encountering Him on a daily basis, that would mean being open to Spirit. The same Spirit who convicts the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgement (John 16:8). But we don’t want to feel guilty. We want to ignore our sin instead of facing it head on and overcoming it because it makes us a little uncomfortable. Yet we wonder why we’re stuck in the same cycle of sin over and over again. We question God as to why He hasn’t delivered us, when we’re actually not all the serious about deliverance because we like our sin. It’s a lot easier to sin than to live your life for Christ. 

Having said all of this, I don’t want anyone to think that I’m saying we are any less saved if we don’t read our Bibles or have a quiet time every once in while. We do these things because we ARE saved, not to become saved. But if our Bibles are collecting dust, maybe we should evaluate our lives and question whether we actually want a relationship with Christ. God has given us His Word to teach us and to speak to us. He’s given us direct access to His throne room, meaning we can come to Him any time of the day with any praise or need, and He listens to us because He loves us! 

God isn’t lonely. He has legions of angels. He doesn’t have to have a relationship with us, but He wants one!

So let’s take up this challenge together. Let’s meditate on His Word and hide it our hearts so we might not sin (Psalm 119:11). Let’s all agree to give our time to God before we do anything else. I know we’ll all be amazed at how our lives reflect what we’ve learned and how God will start moving in our lives again. 

I’ve always been raised in church and reading my Bible and praying became second nature. I knew that Christ had power over my life if I let Him, and I knew that I could take that power into my own hands if I wanted it back. 

As a result, a few years ago, I became an Indian giver. I took back what I had given to God. Somewhere along the line, I lost my focus. It wasn’t sudden, but gradually, it happened. So gradually, I hardly noticed until I began to see clearly again.
When I should have been focusing on God, I began focusing on worldly things. From my point of view, it was nearly impossible to see myself becoming overwhelmed in sin. It was nearly impossible to see how far I had gone. And it was completely impossible for me to see hope. 

I started regaining my focus when I realized that my choices didn’t just affect me. I saw how the decisions I made were impacting my friends, my school work, and my family. It took my world falling apart for me to realize that I needed a Savior more than I ever thought I would. 

That’s when Christ stepped in. In my realizing my need, I surrendered everything. My entire life is His now. My heart, soul, body, and mind. Like a camera on manual focus, God took me, twisted and turned me, fined tuned me, until all of me was focused on Him. Still, everyday, God has to keep me focused. Sometimes, He becomes blurry as I begin to move, but I hear Him tell me to be still, and He fixes me again. 

God wants to do that with all of you, too. If you would just let Him, He will turn your life upside down. Our entire vision will be changed, how we view God, how we view ourselves, how we view others, and how we view our future. 

So take a moment, and ask God to refocus your life so that it would match His vision for your life. 

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” —Jeremiah 29:11 ♥