POWER!....without steroids

Been a super busy couple of weeks. Classes are hard, I'm not getting enough studying in for the MCAT, RA activities are great but time-consuming, I took a post as a DJ for the campus radio station....the list goes on!

With all of these activities and some other volunteering thrown on top my life seems to get out of control in a hurry. I personally am one of those people who likes to be busy, sitting around wasting time is not for me (*note, i do enjoy sitting around doing nothing and relaxing at times, not a waste of time at all)...but sometimes in the midst of all the business I get overwhelmed.

This past week I have been really reflecting on the power of Christ. It seems such a trivial thing for a Christian to talk about...no duh we think Christ is legit, we are CHRISTians after all right?

Something interesting happened this week. On Tuesday nights I volunteer with a group called Halo (it's a bible study we have at the VoA in town for troubled and substance abuse teenagers). It's really random because the head of it is my best friend's brother, my nearly life long neighbor, and role model growing up...but anyways, back to the story. We played a game with the kids and then watched some videos about a guy interviewing people about what happens after death. We broke up into small groups and Aaron and I led a group of young guys. What was so interesting for me was that while we talked everyone was willing to participate in "God talk"...as long as we were talking about "God/god" everything was fine, but when we mentioned Jesus Christ, three of the guys instantly started fidgeting, looking out the window, trying to get everyone else's attention off of us leaders who were basically sharing the Gospel. It was almost as if we were in the midst of the battle described by Paul in Ephesians 6.

All of this has really prompted me to investigate the power of Christ in my life. First of all I shouldn't have been surprised by the response of the boys. 1 corinthians 1 says something of the order that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who do not believe. It is almost as if the name of Christ is offensive to those who don't believe. Nearly all people seem willing to at least entertain the idea of a god but when Christ comes up something changes. Suddenly the rules have changed. Why is this?? I think it has much to do with the fact that in order to accept Christ as our Lord, we need to accept that we are failures. We fail to live up to the standards that God has set forth for us because of sin and evil. The problem is that so many people have the feeling that living "good lives" is all that's necessary to earn a spot in heaven. What a tradgedy if all there is to getting to heaven is living a good life. Think of how much we would miss as Christians.

You see as Christians it is not all about living the "good life" with God. So many Christians I have read about and know have not had good lifes in our worldly standards. Maybe it was a ravaging disease, a sudden death of a loved one, tough circumstances, whatever...following Christ doesn't guarantee one "riches". However, ask any Christian..."Is it worth it?" every single one will say yes. Why? There is absolutely nothing that compares with having a personal relationship with the creator of the universe. If all we had to do was live good lives, help others,etc...to get into heaven we would be missing out on the best part of life here on Earth.

To sum all of this together we must acknowledge in the mighty power of Jesus Christ. He is the ultimate source of hapiness and encouragement. He has the power to save anyone and if we as Christians are willing to accept this free gift from Him and share it with others we can bring further glory to him. Beware though, this will not be easy...sharing about someone who offends what those of the world hold dear will be sure to ruffle some feathers.

Live offensively.