I absolutely love Easter Sunday! What a wonderful celebration of God's love and a time to reflect all he endured for us on the cross! He suffered and paid the ultimate price for us...DEATH. As I try and wrap my mind around and ponder all that he went through for us, suffering the most horrendous and humiliating death, it's truly mind boggling! Why would he do this for ME? I encourage you all to watch the Passion of the Christ if you haven't as it can give you an idea of what Jesus had to endure so that you and I could be forgiven but I still cannot comprehend the depth of his love for ME: He was despised and rejected, mocked, beaten and flogged, his body was disfigured beyond recognition, he had the weight of the worlds sin on his shoulders, he was separated from God for a period of time... all for me? WHAT?? I need to remember EVERYDAY instead of just Easter Sunday what Jesus went through for ME! He was crucified on the cross for ME! And YOU!!! And even though it was a horrible thing that he had to endure it was also wonderful and miraculous... HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD! HE'S ALIVE!
Easter bunnies, eggs, yummy dinner and family time is all great and lots of fun but lets all remember why we celebrate this holiday! HE'S ALIVE!
The music video below has a bit of the Passion of the Christ movie in it. Take a peak and see a glimpse of what he has done for you!
Now Jesus was going to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the twelve aside and said to them "We are going to up to Jerusalem, the son of man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teacher of the law. They will condemn him to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!" Matthew 20:17-19
I have really began to notice that so many "Christians" including myself are not being very Christ like in the way we act toward others. The Holy Spirit has been really working on my heart in this area of my life. God has been bringing to my attention when I am not treating others as he expects me too. My tone, facial expressions, body language and words are not matching up to what he wants them to be much of the time. I am convicted over and over again, sometimes all day long about how I am not being real with people or I'm not really listening to them at times. I am not investing in their lives like He would like me too, I become irritated, rude or short with people often times and I treat people unkindly.
So many "Christians" do not even behave like Christians...they are short with people, they are impatient, entitled, embarrassing, rude, distracted, and self absorbed, it seems like many "Christians" act just like the world and it is very hard to even tell they are "Christians" because they are mad all the time and quite frankly act like spoiled brats if things don't go their way or if something goes wrong and disrupts their schedules they throw a fit. If someone messes up and it affects them in anyway they become irritated act like a child. Their facial expressions say it all and their tone of voice is very apparent, they think they may be doing a good job hiding their irritations but they are not. There are so many unhappy and irritated people in this world! Look around and pay attention this upcoming week and you will see what I am talking about. They are everywhere! I understand those individuals that don't follow Christ as they are not trying to live as Christ, but what I don't understand is the people who say they are "Christians" and they are not acting very Christ like. We have a guidebook (The Bible) to follow and it clearly outlines how we are suppose to act and speak and if we are truly following how God expects us to be we would be more aware and try are hardest to be kinder, and more loving towards people even if we are in a hurry or things don't go how we expect them too. We would practice being patient with people. We would try to not get so mad and irritated at everyone and everything. We would smile more, laugh more and have a little fun and conversant with people while we wait and make the best of the situations, taking each and every opportunity that comes our way to bless somebody's day instead of making matters worse. We need to remember God is placing opportunities in front of us and wanting us to take advantage of these opportunities to make a difference in somebody's life.
If we call ourselves "Christians" we better be acting Christ like. Christians, we better wake up! People are turning away from God because of our behavior! People are longing for someone to show kindness because there is such a lack of it these days! We can't afford to get this wrong, we must strive to be the person God has called us to be in all areas of our lives!
Lord, I want people to have no doubt in their minds that I am a Christ follower, I cannot do this if I am not acting as you have called me too. I want others to see you through me and want to have what I have because I have a relationship with you but if I am not showing your fruit, I have failed you. You give us the ability to show your love, and kindness, your peace, and patience, your goodness, and faithfulness, your gentleness and self control. Lord help me to pray for these fruits of the spirit as they do not come naturally to me. Lord, I do not want to hinder anyone from wanting a relationship with you. If they know that I am a "Christian" but yet I do not act like it they will turn away and not want anything to do with you. Lord, please help me to get this area of my life under control so that others will see you through me! If I fail which I will ...and become rude, irritated, self absorbed and unkind to people bring it to light right away and prompt me to apologize. You are the one that gets the bad rap for my bad behavior and for that I am truly sorry! In Jesus name I pray Amen.
Here are some examples of areas in which you can practice Christ like behavior: 1.) At the grocery store-with the clerks, and customers- There so many grumpy people in the grocery store-think of ways to strike up conversations, smile and or show some kindness to those that are grumpy and or in a hurry! If you do this it helps waiting in line so much easier and time will fly by! Praise those clerks that are friendly, smiling, happy and giving great customer service. Tell them how nice it is that they are so friendly as it is rare to see and is so very refreshing -try and do this so others may hear you say it to them so they might begin to notice clerks that are trying hard!
2.) Praise your co-workers more often, telling them how amazing they are for being kind to others, Make it clear to your co-workers it is not ok to be grumpy, irritated or impatient in your work environment, practice this every opportunity that arises. People don't want do business with grumpy, unkind, irritated, unhappy people. If you have a boss who is hard to deal with kill them with kindness and show them love, respect and honor them despite how they act. Pray for them to change their hearts.
3.) When you are doing business on the phone pray before you begin your conversations so you are not rude to the person on the other end of the phone or if they are rude you can turn them around with your kindness. It can be hard to be kind sometimes when you have to figure things out with someone on the phone.
4.) Practice being kind, loving and patient around and to your family members. We need to teach our children that it is not ok to treat others rudely. We need to teach them to show others God's love in all situations. We need to be patient people so they have an example to follow. We need to love the family members we have that might be difficult to love and show them kindness even if they are rude to us and may not deserve it.
These are a few examples of ways we can begin the process of being more Christ like to others. Will you take the challenge in asking God to reveal to you how you can be more aware of how you are treating people and begin to treat them as God wants us to?
Since God has revealed that I need some serious help in this area of my life he continuously is bringing my behavior to my attention and convicting me over and over again! I have been practicing these very things above and the more I practice the easier it becomes and someday I will not have to practice it will be natural and I will not have to apologize for my rudeness hopefully! As believe me I have had to apologize so many times and it is not fun but at the same time when the Holy Spirit prompts me to apologize and I don't, it eats at me so it is just best to say sorry if you are short and offend someone!!
Come on "Christians" let's begin the process of behaving as God wants us to behave so we can point others to Him and not turn them away because of our behavior!
God Bless, Angie Goucher
_______________________________________________________________________________ Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. 1 Peter 2:12
I got to go to the Rock and Worship Roadshow with my mom and friends and see a lot of my favorite Christian singers, Jeremy Camp, Citizen Way, Audio Adrenaline, Newsboys, Danny Goeke, Mandissa, and Family Force Five. It was so much fun! Here is one of my favorite songs from Audio Adrenaline.
