But, by whom? Check out your list of people in and around your life. Whom would you bare your deepest and darkest secrets? If you are like me, there aren't many! People have motives. You and I have motives. Sometimes those motives direct our sharing with others. Some people use who the are as a power over others. Others use their knowledge to do good. Still the question remains for us. Why do we do what we do in social circles? The "needs" we have are presented in our daily lives. Most of the time we are concerned about having our needs be met rather than meeting the needs of others. I was recently asking myself if people could truly see Jesus in me. I came to the conclusion that sometimes that might be true while other times my sin has covered Jesus so people can't see him in me. Maybe you do the same thing. I've known people who have long been the bastion of uprightness and reflected Jesus in their daily life. I've also known people who haven't. So, we come to the crossroads of this discussion with the issue of trust relegating us to share ourselves only where trust has been established. That doesn't always prove true. There are wolves in sheep clothing waiting to deceive the very elect.
I used to be quite shy believe it or not. I hated to be around people due to my discomfort level with myself. When I was inducted into the US Army I found other people who loved to ask questions of others. The most innocent was "Where are you from?" Even that took on a note of disdain if you weren't from the right place. People judge cruelly and harshly. I decided then that I wouldn't be intruded upon and began to be the first to ask others questions. When I did so the attention was on them and not on me. People became known to me but I wasn't known to them except for those where trust had bloomed. That exercise ended my shyness. It also set me on the path of the vocations that I would engage in. I became a "wounded healer" to others according to one supervisor. People would and still do open up to me a complete stranger with their lives. I found myself giving people attention they needed to be able to let go of the "stuff" in their lives. God used me to do good with those who needed it most. In the process my interactions with others helped me to overcome self focused life and to Jesus to others.
Today I want people to see and know Jesus through my life. That's part of the purpose of this blog. I've disclosed much of my life through this blog and am okay with that. What I want people to see is Jesus leading me and directing my life. It's what all Christians should do. Christians should live their lives in such a manner that people become hungry for what we have...Jesus. How can they be hungry for Jesus unless He is being lived out in our lives. Should the world try to direct who we are by restricting Jesus, we need to be Jesus to the world all the more. Personally, I'm tired of what Christians are acting like just to make others comfortable with them and not Jesus. Want to not make waves? Change your life and church to what the world looks like. Want to be Jesus to the world? Let Jesus live through you at all times. The day is coming when we all will have to give account of every idle thought and every word we have spoken. Will God find my life filled with thoughts focused by Jesus or the world? Will God find that my words and actions have presented Jesus to the world or has my stand for the world covered over Jesus in my life. It's a question for you as well. It has been, is now and forever be your choice.
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