Are You Alive For Christ?

What makes you come alive? Think about this.

Last night at our weekly Bible study, this question was asked by the DVD host, John Eldridge…FYI, our small group is watching his series, Wild at Heart. John made the statement, “Don’t ask what the world needs of you–ask what makes you come alive?” The point being, if you are passionate and cognizant about pursuing your calling, you’ll be fulfilled by and effective at whatever God has for you to accomplish.

John addressed the fear factor as well, bringing in Abraham’s faith in leaving everything but his family behind to follow God across country. Most often, following our dreams means facing certain fears, going on total trust and obedience to whatever God asks of us. I was especially sobered by this passage that John read in Revelation 21:7-8:

“He who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.

But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Notice the first group described in that list? The cowardly. Ouch. I know I’ve been content to swim the placid waters of my “small story” (as John put it) afraid to brave the rapids and waterfalls in my journey to the “big story” God’s inviting me to join…

Also contributing to my thoughts on this… Last week my hubby, girls and I watched a World View Weekend DVD featuring Mark Cahill, titled, Lukewarm No More! Listen to it here, if you want. (You can find the Biblical passage on the importance of being hot or cold, but not lukewarm in Revelation 3:14-22) Mark Cahill, as I shared in my post recommending his book One Heartbeat Away, is extremely burdened for the lost. In this DVD he shares that he knows a family whose children beg their parents to take them street witnessing on their birthdays. Anybody else’s jaw fall off at that one? He also mentioned that he queried the hotel clerk at the hosting quarters of a national conference for youth pastors, asking this person if they’d been working the desk all weekend…to which they answered “yes”…Mark then asked them if any of these youth pastors had shared the plan of salvation with them…and the answer was “no”.

I’ve heard that when polled, most Christians haven’t shared their faith or Christ with others in the last year, much less in the last month.

What concerns me, is how comfortable I am keeping my God-service within my church. How much do I do in my community for Christ? Not a whole lot. Well, that’s going to change.

What makes me alive? Reaching out to women…mothers and wives. I love to bake. I love to write. I love having women and their children over to spend the day. I long to encourage families. How can God use this in me to reach others? I’m thinking old-fashioned neighborliness would be a good place to start. I mean going beyond family and friends here. It’s when you do a kindness for a stranger that God’s love is profoundly felt. By the way, that’s a lesson I’ve recently learned out of my b&sil’s house fire. They knew that their family had their back, but the true impact came via the love and outpouring of townspeople/strangers giving their time, their possessions and their shoulders to cry on.

So what are your thoughts?