One Word A Day (Matthew 5:14) | Teen Ink

One Word A Day (Matthew 5:14)

May 6, 2013
By Jacob.D.Poettker GOLD, Waterloo, Illinois
Jacob.D.Poettker GOLD, Waterloo, Illinois
16 articles 0 photos 11 comments

Favorite Quote:
"The Bible will keep you from sin. Sin will keep you from the Bible." D.L. Moody
"Of these three remain: faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these, is love." 1st Corrinthians 13:13


Alright, this is a new type of Scripture Study I discovered recently. It’s called the One Word A Day Bible Method. Check it out!


Matthew 5:14: “You are a light in this world, a city on a hill that cannot be hidden.”

Day One: “You”

The word “you” is way more than the first word of the sentence. It is YOU specifically. God is talking directly to YOU. Out of all the 7 billion people in the world, God is talking to YOU directly. Yes, you! But why? YOU are a mortal. YOU are a sinner. YOU are nothing when YOU stand alone. But guess what? God is talking to YOU directly, because he loves YOU specifically! The Bible is not written to US but to YOU. God, the Creator of the universe, the everlasting Father, the Great I Am, loves YOU, the human, the sinner, the unworthy. And that’s the beauty of it. YOU are unworthy of God’s love but YOU have it anyways. YOU are unworthy of God’s love, but YOU have it anyways. I heard Casting Crown’s song, “Who Am I,” playing on the radio today. Read these words and really let them sink in.

“Who am I,
That the Lord of all the Earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt.”

Then later in the song

“Not because of who I am,
But because of what You’ve done,
Not because of what I’ve done
But because of who You are.”

YOU are a sinner and are, thus, unworthy of God’s love, but God loves YOU anyways. YOU are loved. YOU are treasured. YOU are a child of God! Because of that, YOU are watched over. YOU are protected. YOU are battled for in the supernatural world. YOU are given the source of unending love and everlasting comfort. You ARE…

Day Two: “Are”


“Are”… I had trouble with this word this morning. All I was getting was the same message from yesterday. Then it hit me. That’s the beauty of it! God could have used any other form of the verb “to be” but He used “ARE.” It’s present tense, which is a big difference than any other form of the verb. I’m so glad we ARE forgiven and not WERE forgiven as soon as we screw up. Through this word, this one three-letter word, God assures us that nothing ever changes when we mess up. We ARE still a light in this world. we ARE still looked at, examined, and judged by the world. That’s never going to change, sorry. But here’s the thing, yes we ARE examined and critiqued by the world, but the word “ARE” also gives us love and hope. We ARE loved. That will never change. God is the Great I AM, not the Great I WAS. He is constant, He never changes and that is the same with His compassionate, unconditional, unending, and unfailing love for us We ARE children of God, and it won’t be “we WERE children of God” as soon as we slip up. It’s permanent. Once you commit yourself fully to the family of the Lord, there’s no leaving. You’re bound for Heaven.
A few weekends ago, our youth group attended a conference called Dare2Share. It was a two-day journey through learning how to share our faith. On the second day we were told to go out for lunch, find a place where you’re not sitting with any of your friends, and just watch the people as they go by with an invisible tag on them saying “Bound For Hell.” That broke my heart. There I sat under the arch, observing people walking through and to Hell. If they don’t accept God, then they ARE condemned.
The word “ARE” is condemning and also hopeful. But it doesn’t have to be condemning because You Are A…

DAY THREE
“A”

Not going to lie, this was very hard at first. What is so good about the word “a?” What’s the message behind a one-letter word? From 10-2:30ish this morning I worked for Nathan Wilson’s Eagle Scout project and I stood and helped with this on my mind. “What’s the message behind this little seemingly unimportant word?” And that’s the point! Alone, the word “A” is nothing. It’s pointless. It actually signifies the unimportance of whatever it describes (depending on what the noun is). At the Wal-Mart in Waterloo, I was just A scout in A town in A county in A state, in A country in A planet in A galaxy. It seems pretty pointless, unimportant, even worthless, right? That’s because it is, unless it is with God. And let me just state this now, God is not A God, He’s THE God. And THE God makes us A child of God. Not just A human being, but An Ambassador of Christ. Apart from God, we are A purposeless driven, useless life living out our path to Hell, but if we put our trust, our faith, and our life in Christ, then we become so much more. We become A warrior for Christ. We become A child of God. We become A member of Christ’s family. We become A complete, purpose-filled, motivated, satisfied, joy-filled Christ follower that does not reside on Earth but in Heaven with Christ Jesus our Lord. So when we join Christ and, thus, are given a purpose driven life, we become Christ’s voice in the world. We become A part of the body of Christ, reaching out into the world to those who don’t know Him, or don’t know that they don’t know Him like they should. You Are A LIGHT…

DAY FOUR
“LIGHT”

Webster defines “LIGHT” as “an illuminating agent or source, as the sun, a lamp, or a beacon.” Can we not apply this to our lives in Christ? God calls us to be an illuminating agent or source, as the sun, a lamp, or a beacon! In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus gives us the great Commission. “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey everything I have taught you and remember, I will be with you to the end of the age.” To those who do not know of the Hell they are headed to, we are a light. We are an example, an experiment. They watch us in everything we do, normally so that when we mess up, they can ridicule and destroy us. However, we are called to love them like Christ loves us. Even though they ridicule us, we are to be there for them. Even though they look for reasons to judge us, we must see the good in them, because Christ loves them as He loves us. They are His creation as we are. Another definition of light is to be absent of darkness. Now that is impossible; to be absent of all sin. The only person that has been capable of doing that is Christ Jesus. However, we are called to give up any darkness we might be trying to hide. When we have darkness in our hearts, we slowly begin to take the control of our lives away from Jesus and back to ourselves. Bad idea. God knows what to do with your life. He’s had a plan for you since before you were born. He knows exactly what you need and exactly what you need to stay away from. It’s like trying to prove a GPS wrong. It knows the path you need to take and even when you make a wrong turn, or go down the wrong path, it recalibrates and sets you back up to the destination it wants you to go to. God wants you! He wants you to know Him and love and trust in Him! He wants to take your pains and struggles and He proved that when He willingly and undeservingly gave up His life and died one of the most horrible deaths ever imaginable. How can we stand around, taking control of our lives when we know we’re going to screw it up? I love the song “Everything” by Lifehouse. It makes so much sense.
“How can I stand here with You and not be moved by You?
Would you tell me, how can it be, any better than this?”
How can we live our lives in sin and destruction when the cure to death is so easy to grasp?! Imagine that you had the cure to cancer. Would you horde it to yourself and not tell the world so that thousands, maybe millions, of cancer victims can be healed?
You are called to be an ambassador for Christ, a warrior of God, a missionary, a servant. You Are A Light IN…

DAY FIVE
“IN”
In this verse, the word “IN” really has two meanings. IN is not only a pronoun but it is also a noun. As a pronoun, God meant to tell us that we are simply IN this world. We don’t belong. This is not out home. We are not OF this world, but IN this world. If we are OF the world, if we listen to the world’s voices and let them be our influence, if we look and/or act like those who have not been blessed with the grace of god, then we should not be saying that we are saved. Romans 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”
This can’t be any clearer! God tells us what it looks like to be OF the world and what it looks like to be IN the world. If you look like those who don’t know God, you’re OF the world. You can say you’re a Christian and that you go to church every time you can and you even read the Bible from time to time, but if you look like the world, the only thing you’re actually doing is smacking God in the face.
We are called to live IN this world. God told us how to do that, too. We need to sacrifice our selves to Christ. Galatians 2:20 says, “For I have been crucified with Christ! It is not me who lives, but Christ who lives in me. This lie I now live in the flesh I live for the Son of God who loved me and sacrificed Himself for me.” The other way the word, IN, is used as a place. If we follow Galatians 2:20, Romans 12:1, Luke 9:23, which requires that we sacrifice everything that describe our control over our lives, Matthew 28:19, which commands us to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them IN the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and Galatians 5:22, which shows the fruits that we should posses when we live for Christ, then Christ lives Inside you and you are simply living IN the world. You can almost always tell a person’s heart by the fruit they produce, but that’s aside the point.
This meaning of the word IN encourages us by saying that we have Christ IN us. He’s there to give us strength and to make the right decisions. However, He is still living IN you when you mess up. Do you really want Christ to see you and what you do when you’re home alone? That is another reason why You Are A Light In THIS…

DAY SIX
“THIS”
In Matthew 5:14, God specifies what exactly we are a light in. the word, THIS, can be replaced with “your.” THIS word shows the uniqueness of your life, your talents, and your situation. You are a light in YOUR world. You are a light to your friends, your family, people you meet, and everyone you come in contact with. Not only that, but you are to a light to specific people God lays on your heart. As you read this, close your eyes for a second and think about somebody (or some people) that don’t know the Lord. Ask God to show you someone that He wants you to witness to, or who you have been able to witness to but haven’t yet. God is telling you right now that you are to be a light in THIS person’s world. On the other hand, God is claiming His creation. To you, He’s saying “You are My child. You are My love.” God wants you to be a light in THIS world because He loves everybody IN and OF THIS world.
THIS world is His and not ours. THIS life we live (or should be living) is HIS, not ours. Just a while ago, I was told the true path to finding joy: Jesus, Others, Yourself. That means that true joy comes when you place Jesus as number one in THIS life, then put others’ needs before your own. A lot of people spell this acronym as YOJ. Doesn’t makes sense, right? That way of living will give you a temporary feeling of “joy,” but it will never last. It always makes you want more right?” When you get done indulging into sexual impurity, you feel like you enjoyed it, had a good time, but you crave more. After getting drunk at a party, you feel like you had a good time, but all you want is another beer. THIS life is not how it is suppose to live. It was made so we can make everything we do glorify THIS God, the only God of Isaac, Abraham and Israel.
That is why You Are A Light In This WORLD…

DAY SEVEN
“WORLD”
Of course the seventh word of this verse is WORLD. Think about it. God created everything we know and don’t know about the WORLD and the universe in six days, then rested on the seventh. WORLD is also the last word of this clause. Also, the seventh day of the week is what most people consider as the end of the week, and the Sabbath.
Exodus 20:8-11 says, “Remember to dedicate the Sabbath day: You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord you god. You must not do any work – you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock or the foreigner who is within your gates. For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.”
This commandment is the longest our of God’s Ten Commandments. Obviously He’s trying to make a point. But not doing any work is the sole purpose of the Sabbath, right? No. that would imply that at the end of the six amazing days of creation, God was tired, which would cause the question “If god is all-powerful, then how can He get tired?” god paused, not rested. He admired the WORLD He created on the seventh day.
Not only is the Sabbath just the seventh day of the week where re recognize that God has control and is the only one in control of the WORLD as well as our lives, but it is also a state of mind. Louie Giglio puts it this way, not having the Sabbath state of mind means that you’ve lost the full Story of God. It means that having the Sabbath state of mind, you recognize that God’s name is I Am and you rejoice that our name is “I am not,” and recognize how small you are compared to the big picture. But even though you are small, you are just as important as the other lights in this WORLD. We are the live with a Sabbath mind, and that will shine with such love and hope that other people will want it that don’t.
Now, God wants us to be a light in this WORLD because it is His creation. No matter how many times mankind has wronged Him, He still loves us. In Hosea 11:8 after Israel keeps rejecting the Lord over and over again, He says, “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I surrender you, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? I have had a change of heart; My compassion is stirred!”
He needs us to be a light in this WORLD. And this WORLD is all we have aside from the Lord. That is why You Are A Light In This World, A…

DAY EIGHT
“A” (again)
Oh, no! Not again! Here we go again with this tiny, little seemingly unimportant word, right? It’s just a one-letter word only used before a noun or adjective. Wrong. The last look at the word “A,” we realized that we are just another face in the crowd, but even though we are small, scratch that, we are smaller than small, God loves us individually and unconditionally. With God, we are not just Another human, we are A child of God!
Let’s step back and look at the whole picture.
“You are a light in this world, a…”
We are not alone. Go back and read the verse, but replace the first two A’s with “one of the.” “You are ‘one of the’ lights in this world, ‘one of the’ city on a hill that cannot be hidden.”
You are one of the few, graciously allowed to have with the Lord of all creation living inside you! Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.” Galatians 2:20, “For I have been crucified with Christ! It is not I who lives but Christ who lives in me…” we have Christ living inside of us as well as through us. Because of that, we can draw strength from Christ and be able to endure hardships to any extent! We are not and shall never be Alone! And not only do we have God always watching us, we have the body of Christ! We are A member of God’s family. We are A sibling to those who live for God.
So You Are A Light In This World,” but we are “A CITY…”

DAY NINE
“CITY”
Webster gives two definitions of the word “CITY” that really stick out. One is “A large or important town.” The other is “the inhabitants of a city collectively:”
The first definition of CITY is a large or important town. How true is that?! Is the city of Christ (a.k.a. the BODY of Christ) more significant than the average group of people? It is an important collective of people, belonging to Christ, with one mission: spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Matthew 28:18-20: “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’” This is our mission, as the CITY of Christ. Our city is a city with open borders, loving people, and expanding population. It is a town without unemployment, crime, or bankruptcy. We have all been given a job by the Lord and Creator of our souls. He, and only He, is our never-ending resource. I keep bringing this verse up but it works in pretty much every situation. Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.” Through Him, we have all the courage, strength, tolerance, patience, kindness, wisdom, mercy, grace, and love we could ever ask for. It is through Him that we have been saved! Ephesians 2: 8-9: “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast.” Our salvation is not of our doings, but of God’s! Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.” We can never get to Heaven on our own. Our good works can’t out weigh our bad to the point where God’s going to let us in. picture your life is like a luggage bag. And since we’re all human, you begin to fill your bag with bad things, things that affect your life negatively. No matter how many good things you put in that bag to “cover up” all the bad, those bad things are still there. Only through Jesus Christ the Messiah, can our bag be emptied! God is willing to take our baggage. He wants to empty us out of our wrongs and thank us for our rights. When someone dies who has follow the Lord, Jesus doesn’t tell him/her “Good job My good and faithful servant” for His benefit, He’s genuinely proud of you! Everything we do for His sake is metaphorically put up on God’s refrigerator. That is why as a CITY we are important, because we are His CITY!
The other definition of CITY that really stuck out to me is “the inhabitance of a city collectively.” The example on the dictionary page for CITY was “the entire city mourned his death.” This continues along with what God has been saying! As a CITY (a collective of God’s children) we are all to work together, as a COLLECTIVE OF PEOPLE. That’s what a CITY is, according to this definition. When we go to spread the word, it’s not just one or two people with “the gift” to evangelize. We’re Christians, that’s our talent for evangelization. Sure, some people are better with their words than others, but Christ called EVERYBODY in Matthew 28:19. He didn’t specify with “only pastors go and make disciples of all nations.” He simply said “Go.” No more, no less. He didn’t say to force people to a relationship with God. That’s not going to happen, it’s as impossible as forcing a person to move to a CITY they’ve never been to and don’t know anyone in, just because you say so. People aren’t argued to Christ, they’re loved! When I die, I don’t want to be the Christian that simply lived life and believed. I live so that when I die, Jesus will tell me “good job my good and faithful servant.” That’s like giving me my citizenship to the CITY of God.
You can be a part of this CITY, if you aren’t. Its borders are open. It doesn’t matter if you have a bad pass or lack in certain skills. It doesn’t matter what race you are, what other CITY you came from, or what CITY you claimed to be a part of. The only requirement for citizenship is to ask for God’s mercy and acceptance for him to live in your heart, and to live life as though Christ is always watching, because He is always watching.
So You Are A Light In This World, A City ON…

DAY TEN
“ON”
Anyways, we are a city ON a hill. When the world looks at us, they put us on a pedestal. They expect us to do the impossible: live completely without sin. And when we screw up, which I know we all will, they will chastise us and ridicule us and Satan will get at us. He'll make us think "How can I be a Christian when I've just done…" That is not the way to be thinking! If you are thinking that then Satan has you right where he wants you and I pray that you'll ignore the many voices of the father of lies.
Instead of chastising back at the world and being bitter towards the rest of creation, we are called to be loving. First Corinthians 13:13 says "And these three things remain; faith, hope, and love, the greatest of these is love." Even when we are being attacked, we are to love our attackers. I'm not saying we are to love the fact that we are being attacked, that's stupid. Who loves to feel alone and hurt? Ever heard the saying "love the sinner and not the sin?" Well it's true. If we don't love the sinner, than how can we love anyone? Romans 3:23 says everybody's a sinner so if we can't love one specific person that has done us wrong, how can we expect to love anybody?
That is why yes You Are A Light In This World, but we are A City On A…

DAY ELEVEN
"A" (one more time)
This is the last time guys, I promise. This is the last “useless one-letter word” of this verse. But yet, that’s really what we are, to a point. We are just a city on A hill. Not THE hill, but just An ordinary hill. We’re not in the spotlight, and we’re not the main event. Jesus Christ the Messiah is the main event! He’s the ringmaster! He’s the spotlight as well as in the spotlight! This “A” is about showing us how we are to live our lives for Christ! Psalms 115:1 says, “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness.” Especially those who God has placed as a leader in His church, you are to do this to every moment of your life. People look to you on what to do and if they see you up there on stage or speaking to a congregation and taking all the glory for your work, then they’ll start to follow. And don’t just do this to be a good example, but truly purge out all credit to yourself and give it up to the Lord. It is He that gave you your leadership and talents anyways! Heck, it’s His breath you’re breathing. Give God His breath back, you owe Him!
Jesus told us that He and He alone is the Way, the Truth and the Light. No one can go to the Father accept through Him! So why do we try to pretend that we can take His credit? It doesn’t even go our way. Sure, you might get compliments but the credit takes place in our hearts. People compliment you because they were worked on by God. Leaders in God’s church, His Bride, and all people a part of the Body of Christ, we are called to lay our pride at the cross. That is really the source of all sin: pride. We have to lay our pride at the cross or we are not doing our job of being A City On A HILL…

DAY TWELVE
“HILL”
Alright guys, there’s two ways to interpret the word HILL in this verse.
Interpretation number 1: As said before in this verse, as a Christian, the world puts us up on a pedestal. They try to watch for us to make mistakes. They will set us up to fail, because let’s be honest; Christian or not, you’re going to sin. It’s human nature, and there’s no escape from it. Being Christian does not prevent it. And when you do sin, because you are Christian, the world is going to try to put you “in your place.” Ever thought, “How can God use me when I’ve sinned so much?” When you think that, that’s when Satan has you right where he wants you. If you’re Christian, then Satan can’t keep you from going to heaven, but he can make you useless for the Kingdom. Guess what? God, if you let Him, will forgive you for any sin you’ve ever committed! In fact, God WANTS to forgive you! He longs for the moment when you see His light in the dark tunnel of the sinful nature. All you have to do is ask.
Interpretation number 2: We are a city on a HILL. We are at the top achievement; the high point in our Earthly life. Jesus had his high point when he died on a HILL. That’s the connection. When we enter the city and get to that HILL, we know we are one with God, not in the way Jesus was, but we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. Doesn’t that make you excited?! And with the Holy Spirit living inside of us, we are given talents we never knew we had, or refined talents we already posses, and are given a mission, the mission of the city on a Hill THAT..

DAY TWELVE
“THAT”
This is perhaps one of the most beautiful words in the English language. It shows action. God so loved the world THAT He gave His one and only Son so whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. God loves us; He loves YOU, so much THAT He’s willing to do anything He can so He can have you. God is willing to do anything because He made you and because of THAT, He loves you! It’s parenting 101 to the max! You are His creation and because of THAT, no matter how many times you mess up, no matter how many times you deliberately reject Him, no matter if you even deny that He even exists, GOD LOVES YOU!!!!! In fact, God loves you so much, THAT, He was willing to bridge the gap between us and Him through Jesus, both God and God’s son, to die in the most inhumane way imaginable so that He could take the sins of our mistakes and we have a way to Him if we desire.
Likewise, we can’t just love God. That’s not the deal. Likewise, we have to love God so much THAT we are willing to lay down our lives, our dreams, our desires, EVERYTHING for Him and follow wherever He leads us! It’s not a bad way to live. In fact, most Christians (in America at least) tend to live more joyous, purpose-driven lives THAT are ten times more enjoyable because they fulfill the reason they were created; to worship God in everything they do. It’s not even that hard. Spread the Gospel. You don’t have to use fancy words. Ghandi once said, “Share the Gospel, if necessary, use words.” You don’t even have to talk sometimes. Just live life to the fullest in God and people will notice a change in your life and they will want whatever you have!
We are A City On A Hill That CANNOT…

DAY THIRTEEN
“CANNOT”
So today I was having trouble with the word CANNOT. What’s so important about this word? I hadn’t a clue until Fuel, Hope Student Ministry’s Wednesday night service. Tonight, along with the next three weeks, we talked about the most awkward subject known to man: sex. And tonight we talked about how we CANNOT afford to listen to the ways of the world and get enslaved to the counterfeit gods of sin. Thinking about it, it made total sense with the context of Matthew 5:14! We CANNOT afford to be a city that’s hidden from the world. We CANNOT hide our gift of salvation. That’s like sitting around with the cure for cancer and not sharing it with anyone because it might “be too awkward.”Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” Do you see that? We CANNOT conform to the patterns of this world! If we did, then we might have to debate whether we really are IN the world and not OF the world. If we are really in Christ, then we CANNOT help but have the desire, the burning craving, to spread the Gospel, a.k.a. the GOOD NEWS, to the entire world. Here we are with the cure to death, but most of us are too afraid to tell people about it! Newsflash, that’s really the only way Christ will be with us (aside from living inside of us). Mathew 28:19-20: “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teach them to obey my commands, and surely I will be with you to the end of the age.” He doesn’t pause between what we are to do and what He will do. If we are disciples making disciples, Jesus will be with us and watching over us in everything we do. So because of that, we Cannot BE…

DAY FOURTEEN
“BE”
Be… You are a light in this world, a city on a hill that cannot be… In Exodus, God told Moses to tell the pharaoh “I AM sent you.” I AM is just another term for the infinitive TO BE. God told Moses that I Be had sent him. So Be hidden inside of us. God is that city on a hill. He cannot BE hidden. It’s not possible for God to BE hidden because He’s God; He’s in everything. God is everywhere, He’s the creator of everything, and therefore He can’t not be seen! Because of the Lord, we are able to be a city of believers, a city of followers. It’s because of I AM, we are given the mission to go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit! It is because of the Lord, we have access to the Father through Jesus Christ for Jesus is the way, the truth and the light and no one can have access to the Father except through Him. It is because of the Lord, we are even alive! We owe everything we have, everything we love, and everything we are to God! He gave us breath. He gave us life! He gave us a roof over our heads! He gave us food on the table! It is BEcause of Christ that we have anything so we cannot afford to Be HIDDIN…

DAY FIFTEEN
“HIDDEN”
Alright guys. This is the last word of the verse. Tomorrow we start anew. Just because this is the last word, doesn’t mean it’s more or less important.
As a Christian, we cannot be HIDDEN. The cross cannot be HIDDEN and since the man who died on that cross lives inside those who accept Him, they cannot be HIDDEN either! 1st Peter 3:15 says “But set apart the Messiah as Lord of you hearts and always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in you.” Paul makes it very clear. We are to set aside Jesus Christ the Messiah as our Lord. He’s not just our best friend; He’s not our buddy, there has to be a level of respect and reverence to this man. He died on the cross for Pete’s sake! How can He simply be our friend if He made His unending love for us so plain and obvious?! How can we keep that love HIDDEN to those that don’t have it?! How can’t we share the Gospel (a.k.a. the GOOD NEWS) with the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us?! Acts 1:8 says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth.” You know what Jesus is saying here? He’s saying “Hey! You think you can’t spread My truth because it’s ‘too awkward?’ Embrace the awkward. You think you can’t because you can’t speak? I will provide you with words. You just don’t feel strong enough? I have given you power when you accepted Me as your Lord and Savior.” God’s Word is the truth. It’s life changing. Even when you don’t know what to say, the least you can say is how Christ Jesus, our personal Savior and Lord, changed your life, because if you really are a citizen of that city on a hill, if you really are a Christian, then Christ made your life make a 180! If you really are Christian, then you can’t stay HIDDEN, and even if you try to, you can’t for long. How we show we really love and worship the Lord, we follow His commandments, and one of His most important missions Christ gave us was the Great Commission, which was to go and make disciple of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.



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