Protect It, It's Worth It

        Normally, as soon as spring arrives, my youth group heads to our local park every Tuesday to do outreach. We weren't able to go yesterday cause it was cold, windy, and just plain miserable:( But, as soon as Georgia weather decides to stop acting up, we'll be going regularly. As I think about ministry and sharing the gospel with people I've never met, and will possibly never see again, I start considering my testimony. A Christian's testimony is rarely thought of by many believers, but that shouldn't be the case. My testimony, or reputation, is super important!!! Proverbs 22:1 says "A good name is more desirable that great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold." That shows that God really cares about His children having a good reputation. 

       Now, does this mean that if I happen to be with some unsaved friends, that I should act like them and try to please them just so I can keep my good image in front of them? No! Proverbs is talking about having a good reputation in front of other Christians and in front of God. In turn, though, this will affect your witness in front of unbelievers. If you keep yourself pure and clean in front of God, you will be a bigger testimony than you ever thought possible. If you acted like the world so they could accept you, so that you could possibly, someday, tell them about the gospel, they're not going to ever listen to you. They won't see anything different in you, and therefore won't have any desire to have what you have. 

       Protecting your reputation isn't always that easy, though. Many people take the simple route, saying, "I'm gonna do this cause I wanna do this! I don't care what that person thinks of me! Who are they to judge, anyway?" This may seem very arrogant, but we've probably all said it at one point or another in our lives. One way of saving our testimony in order to have a bigger impact on others is by keeping ourselves from being a stumbling block to others. I remember when I was in my old church. There were a few families in our church who didn't agree with the girls wearing pants. I, on the other hand, didn't have an issue with it, and neither did my family. Yet, my parents told me that whenever we were with those families I should wear a skirt. I was upset at first. How could they impose their beliefs on me?! Why did I have to wear a skirt just because they did? But I was missing the whole point. Like, I was way off, guys. I wasn't wearing a skirt because they wanted me to, or because they were forcing me to have the same convictions as them. I was supposed to be doing it out of love for them, and out of respect for what they believed. I needed to put aside my pride and my own comforts for my fellow Christian's sake. Unfortunately, it took me a while to get to the point where I was doing it out of love. But eventually, when I finally understood the right purpose and motivation behind what I was doing, it was much easier to do. And, I wasn't judging them anymore. Sometimes people's little quirks or convictions can look unnecessary to us, but remember our greatest example, Jesus Christ. He came to earth, and fulfilled the law. Can you believe it? Jesus Christ, who was sent down to earth to die for all our sins so that we may be saved through grace, and not have to stick by the law and all it's rules, FULFILLED THE LAW. Because if he wouldn't have, the Jews would of thought He was a sinner and unclean. See what a testimony you can be when you're trying to encourage people in their closeness with God, instead of being an obstacle sitting in their way? 

       Another aspect to keeping your testimony, is not only respecting other Christians' convictions, but also setting your own. Before you even have a chance to step in that puddle, make sure you know how far you're gonna let yourself go. Last year at the Wild's camp in North Carolina, I learned about how when Daniel was in captivity and was surrounded by pagans, he set boundaries for himself before he was even ever confronted with a situation. He told himself what he was going to allow himself to do, and what he wasn't. And he stuck by those decisions, through thick and thin. That is so much easier said than done, though. We can set boundaries for ourselves according to the Scriptures, and everything's fine and dandy....until we actually have to put those convictions into practice. Until you have to sacrifice being the "cool" guy, just because you don't agree with what you're friends are doing and won't participate. That's why it takes a lot of prayer and effort to stay true to what we believe is right. I've set boundaries for myself on all sorts of things that aren't stated in the Bible as black and white. I've done it with the help of the Scriptures and my parents. But you know, it's really easy to slip into complacency and start loosening my grip on the rope that I had decided to hold on so tightly. I realized I need to come before God daily, asking Him to search my heart for anything that I may be allowing to creep into my life or heart. But I'll warn you, if you ask, you WILL get answers. You'll be shown some things that you probably didn't even notice, or didn't want to notice, and aren't exactly very excited about changing. But this is God we're talking about. The King of the universe. The God who created you and loves you enough that He saved you. Christ came down on this filthy earth and died a criminal's death. If we ever even wanted to repay Him, which we can't, we should start by trying to be more like Him and getting rid of EVERY little thing in our life that is keeping us from knowing Him more.  I guarantee you, the little things add up. And before you know it, there's a boat load of little sins dragging you down and away from Christ. I sometimes have those days where I just don't feel very close to God. And the first thing I do, is get on my knees, pray, and ask the Lord if there's anything in my life that's creating this wall between me and Him. What if you have a really good friend, and one of you did something as simple as not responding to a text? There would probably be a little bit of, "what's going on? doesn't she want to talk?" going on, right? Now imagine texting a friend like five days in a row and getting no responses in return. I would be kinda worried. I'd feel like all communication is down, like I practically lost my best friend! Yet, we sometimes go days without digging into the Scripture and talking to our Savior, yet we expect a great relationship with Him. Not to mention we expect Him to tell us what His will for our life is. 

         But, I'm kinda digressing. I hope I've given sufficient reason, along with what the Bible has to say, on why it's important to protect our reputation and remain a good witness. If we want to be used by God, we need to let Him sharpen us continually, so that we will be useful tools in His hand. So, next time you have to ask yourself, "is this really that bad?" Maybe you should ask, "will this in any way, shape, or form, affect my testimony for Christ?" If the answer is yes, DON'T DO IT!!! A good rule of thumb is, if there's a shadow of doubt in your mind about doing something, there's a very big possibility that it's wrong.

That Perfect Friend

         So, it's been crazy busy around here lately. With school, work, and everything else, I realize how quickly life can suck me in to only be able to see that small, porthole view of what I'm on this earth for and what's really important. It's so nice to be able to have that time in the morning with my Lord, where I can just reflect on the past day and look forward to what that new day has in store. Lately, my devotional has been focusing on how to intercede for others, and I kinda tie that in with being a good friend. We all would love to have that perfect friend, that friend who never gets angry, but can be firm. That friend who helps you when you're down, but isn't afraid to ask for the same help when he or she is feeling down. That friend who loves with a godly, "fruit of the spirit" kind of love. That friend who is ALWAYS there for you, NO MATTER WHAT. I guess that's a pretty good description of a perfect friend. It also sounds sounds like an impossible thing to ever have or be.
         A lot of us think that we are entitled to having good friends. And that we deserve for our best friend to care about us. News flash everybody! We don't deserve anything! But, the Bible does command us to be like Christ. And what did Christ do? 1John 4:19 says that "We love Him because He FIRST loved us". We didn't deserve His love, we didn't even ask for it, yet Christ still came all the way down to earth, suffered a humiliating death on the cross, and rose again, so that we could have eternal life with Him. Now that's love.
         So, if Christ did all that for us measly little people down here, and we're supposed to imitate Christ, then what are we supposed to do? Well, we could stop acting like spoiled brats and think that we deserve people's kindness and friendship. 1John 4:10 says "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins." He wasn't returning our love, because we never showed any towards Him. He didn't die on the cross because He felt obligated to. He did it out of pure love. Maybe if we treated people the way Christ treated us, more often, we would start to change our twisted outlook on friendship. I know I used to, and still do sometimes, have a selfish view of what friendship is all about. It isn't about expecting that person to always be there for you, though that would be great, but it's about always being there for the other person. You, not your friend Joey, but YOU, are responsible for taking the first step, just like Christ did.
          The phrase "always being there for your friend" has many aspects to it. It could mean, listening to your friend's problems and struggles. A big part of a godly friendship is praying and interceding for your friend. The Bible talks about "where much has been given, much is required". This means that if you are a friend enough to be trusted with a person's personal troubles or problems, you are responsible to pray for him or her. So, the prayer part is pretty simple, but how about intercession? That's a word that we don't exactly use in everyday conversation. The definition for intercede is to "intervene on behalf of another". Some synonyms would be to intermediate, plead, or petition. Plead is probably a good word to use. When someone's going through a really tough time, and there's nothing you can do for him/her, you gotta pray for that person. Even if the person you're praying for isn't a believer. That's what it means to intercede for someone. You're pleading and asking the Lord on their behalf. Prayer is more powerful than all the counseling in the world. So, keep that one in mind.
          Also, one last thing that is essential, but probably the hardest part of a friendship, is lovingly confronting your friend when he/she is straying from the godly path. Even though we sometimes see our friends or siblings disobeying the Scriptures, we give ourselves tons of excuses why we shouldn't be honest and just point them back to Christ. We tell ourselves we don't wanna be rude, or we might come off as bossy and goody-goody, or maybe we're guilty of the same thing, and we know we'd just be a hypocrite to tell that person that what he/she is doing is bad. Wrong, wrong, wrong! As for the first two excuses, if we come in a loving and gentle way, praying beforehand for wisdom, we don't have to worry about coming across as uncaring or bossy. And if the person still thinks bad of you, even when you've come to them with the right heart and intentions, then it's probably because he/she knew about the sin or progression all along, and is embarrassed or angry that someone would point it out. You need to go to the person with the mindset that you are worse than, and even less undeserving than him/her. Always view yourself as lower. You're not on earth to set everyone straight. If you think that, you probably need a little straightening out yourself:) We're here to live as godly examples, and to share Christ's love with others. And trust me, people can tell between, "I think you're an idiot for the decisions you've made, and you need to get your act together" and, "Hey, God's been teaching me that I need to change such and such in my life lately, and maybe we could work on it together." See the difference? As for the third excuse, about being a hypocrite. If you see the same problem in your life as you're about to go correct someone else about, you better fix it first. And maybe your example will be all that person needs in order to change. Actions speak louder than words:) I know it's an old saying, but it still works!
           Now, if you're gonna be a godly friend and go lovingly rebuke your fellow believers when they're doing something against the Scriptures, then expect the same thing from them. Don't turn around and get offended when a friend, or maybe even someone who has the wrong motives, rebukes you. Just search your heart, pray, and ask God to help you change. I know it can be hard, and even humiliating sometimes to accept correction, but God puts certain people in your life for a reason. And if he wants to use your friends, or even your enemies, to point out ungodly things in your life, then don't mull over who told you, and how they told you, and why they told you, just fix the problem!!! And in doing this, you will gain humility, probably one of the hardest things to attain in the Christian walk.
           So, as we can see, being a good friend isn't nearly as shallow as the world portrays it. But, that's cause the world is looking for friends who will make them feel good, and flatter them. That's exactly what Proverbs says. But Christians should be looking for friends who will encourage, rebuke, and stand by them through thick and thin. And, we as Christians should also strive to be that same friend that we want to have. Let's just not forget who our best friend and example is, Jesus!

           This video features Guy Penrod, a member of the Gaither Vocal Band. He is singing "What a Friend We Have in Jesus", an old, but still moving hymn. Just reflect on the words, and thank God for what an awesome friend and father He is!