You could be him...

Proverbs 3:1-4
1 My son, do not forget my teaching,
but keep my commands in your heart,
2 for they will prolong your life many years 

and bring you prosperity.
3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; 

bind them around your neck, 
 write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Then you will win favor and a good name 
 in the sight of God and man.

I once had a friend who I really liked a lot. One day I thought to myself “It’s like Jason is friends with everybody”. After that I started watching him more closely. I watched how he talked with teachers, I listened when he talked to new kids at school and I heard how he joked around with his close friends. Know what I found out? Jason was a friend to everyone. It wasn’t because he was the football star, or because he was popular or had money or was cool. Everyone liked Jason, because he never talked bad about anyone. He never went behind anyone’s back. He was always making people smile and he would always go out of his way to do something kind for anyone.

SO WHAT?
Because of how Jason lived he was responsible for 100’s of kids from his school seeing that Jesus was real and full of love. Everyone knew he was a Christian and he showed everyone what a true Christian is really like. He didn’t conform to the rest of the kids at his school, he let God transform him into a amazing Christian. How can you show your school that Jesus is real and full of love? What do people who know you say about you when your not around. People always talked about how Jason was always smiling and how he would always say hi to them and ask them how they were doing. Something as simple as that can make you a Jason in your school. Try it! There is no reason not to.

What it has to do with your actions!

The first day of football practice, I can remember it just like it was yesterday. I had no idea how to put on my pads, so I had to have my coach and my friends help me get it on. Then after I got it on, I remember that I couldn’t even move, it felt so weird having this huge piece of plastic hanging on me and I looked really funny too. Before long though, I was getting used to it and after I took that first big hit, I was like “Thank God, I’m wearing this stuff”. The Bible talks about this same thing. When we first become Christians it feels different than how we were used to living. We need Jesus (our coach) and other Christian friends to help us. Here is what the Bible says:

Colossians 2:6-7
And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

Just like I had to learn how to play football, we need to learn how to live as Christians. We need to keep following Jesus and everyday we follow Him, He is going to teach us more and more. It is the greatest adventure we will ever go on. Better than a roller coaster, better than a safari, better than a haunted house. Living and growing with Jesus is mind blowing.

SO WHAT?
Think about an area of your life that you need to follow God more closely in. Are you overflowing with thankfulness like the verse says? Are you able to live and be kind to your friends and your family all the time? Today, commit to follow God more closely in one area and keep following Him in that area until you can live it the way God wants you to.

"I have long since come to believe that people never mean half of what they say, and that it is best to disregard their talk and judge only their actions."
Dorothy Day

Burn bright

"Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it onto future generations."
George Bernard Shaw
Irish Playwright
1856 - 1950

SO WHAT?

You are a light. You have the option to shine or to hide! What will you do?
Choose today, if you will be a willing disciple or if you will run for cover and hide.

There is a right choice to make and I know you will make the right one!