Love costs ERRTHANG

"And all nations will hate you because you are my followers. But everyone who endures to the end will be saved...

Don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it." -Matthew 10:22, 38-39

Watching that video above made me feel so small about my faith. It makes me feel embarrassed to share my prayer requests around my work, my school, and my wedding. Not that we shouldn't trust God with these things in our lives, but it just shows our real main concerns going on right now. For the God who lived an extreme life for me on earth, it doesn't make sense for me to live a mediocre life to God. 


This all came from reading Matthew 10. I was just ALL confused after reading this passage. I questioned:


1.) Why did Jesus give the disciples authority to cast out evil spirits and heal every kind of disease and illness RIGHT after he called them? What happened to their training?
2.) Why is this not normal for us who call ourselves Christians aka Christ-followers to do these kinds of things today? Is this even possible for us or are we just lacking faith?
4.) Was this warning about persecution only for them or for us too? Because I aint worried about being whipped for my faith anytime soon...

It just seemed like one of those Bible passages that only applied back in the day...but not for us today. And I had no answers, but God did prompt me to confess some things: missing opportunities to acknowledge Jesus before some people so I wouldn't look like a "Jesus freak", allowing myself to dwell on impure thoughts for my own enjoyment, refusing to forgive because I feel like i deserve an apology, seeking for myself to be noticed and acknowledged in front of others, etc...the list goes on and on...but the common denominator to all that is ME wanting to live MY life and do thangs MY way. 


YOLO is the motto right? I mean, we're only young once. We aint getting younger so don't we have the right to live a little? These thoughts still go through my mind sometimes, missing the good ol' days before I got saved and started feeling convicted about sin. But when I got saved, "making the most out of college" took on a whole different meaning. Life went to endless freedom from parents/restrictions to living for Christ ONLY. 


To this day, I still struggle with DEVOTION to him. I see how far these persecuted Christians across the world go to the point of being killed for expressing their faith in our Lord. How far are we willing to go for Him? Once someone called me "a little extreme" when I was expressing my faith in Jesus. That alone made me feel like a loser. 


I guess what I'm tryna say is we gotta stop every once in a while and assess who we really living for. It's like the seesaw effect - we can only have one higher than the other. If we let ourselves take the higher place, then we are less devoted to Christ, and if Christ is at the highest place which he should be at, then we're at the bottom - giving up "life's privileges" (which have no comparison with the "divine privileges" (phil 2:7) Christ gave up.)


Let's express our devotion to him today by re-focusing on our mission here wherever we're at, whatever time it is. Right before Jesus sent out his disciples he looked out at all those people and had compassion on them and knowing he was only one person, he said: "The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields."


We are the workers now! And we do have the power to do what the disciples did, as long as we trust and believe that Jesus HIMSELF is working and speaking through us. Let's go hard for Him and not have a lukewarm, wimpy faith. We can do more powerful and glorious works for His Kingdom depending on how powerful and glorious we view our King!!!

Let's not give up...the fullness of our reward is coming....everything is for JESUS, no matter the cost! Are we ready to change our prayers from:

"God, help me get good grades and do well in my job. Thank you for this food. Make these kids listen to me. Help me plan a fancy wedding." 

-to-

"God, do whatever it takes in my life to bring you the most glory, give me strength to face the upcoming hardships of being your true follower. My cross - BRING IT ON! Jesus ONLY Jesus EVER!"