Thursday, February 09, 2006

The Rodriguez brothers spoke at Wednesday Night Worship last night and gave a report on their successes of bringing people to Jesus in China. They began by showing a video in which several college age kids gave their testimonies about how they came to know Christ. As I watched and listened to their stories and the excitement in their voices I began to think about my attitude as a Christian.

Being new Christians, their excitement was as if they were babies doing something for the first time, and they were; they were baby Christians experiencing the love of God for the very first time in their lives. It was difficult to look at myself and accept that I don't have that same fire in me anymore that they do now. Why is that? I know that God does not love me any less than he did right when I first became a Christian or even before. Have I lost the fire within me; the joy that comes with knowing that I am living the rest of my life for God and receiving his gift of the Holy Spirit and eternal life. I watched this video and tears came to my eyes as I seemed to feel a little bit of that joy again. These new Christians couldn't hold it inside them and had to go out and tell their friends about their Father. It made me want to go back to China and just be around these people who are so eager to learn and tell them about Jesus Christ.

But why did it take this circumstance to bring back the joy that I had had before? And why had I lost it? I think that we get so tied up in our everyday lives and so comfortable with the people around us that we forget who we are and what we, as Christians, are called to do. If we went out everyday and told people about the love that they can experience through Jesus Christ, kept reading the Bible, and spend every hour in constant prayer, we would never lose our passion. God calls us to be like children (baby Christians) and as children we should be overjoyed with the things that He blesses us with and unable to hold it all inside. So I think that I need to spend a little time in prayer and ask God to give me that passion again. I need more open with the people that I come in contact with on a daily basis and engage in conversations with them about God.

Immediately after the worship service was over there was a baptism up in the faculty jucuzzi. I thought that this fit perfectly with what thoughts were running through my mind and God was definitely saying something to me there and encouraging me I think. So I leave with this question for you; what is your faith like right now, are you burnt out or burning strong and what is it that you need to do to either get it going again or keep it burning?