Passion

Donna Braman

Today Is The Day The Lord Has Made And I Shall Rejoice In It!

A PASSION TO PROCLAIM HIM

Read: Colosians 1:28-29

What activities embarrass you? Maybe you feel uncomfortable singing in public or your face turns red when you are caught mumbling to yourself. Does talking about Jesus embarrass you? Staying quiet may seem safer than risking ridicule or being seen as as one of those church fanatics.

Unfortunately, silent believers waste their lives. We receive so many good things from God, a new way of thinking, forgiveness, healing, answers to prayer, and the Holy Spirit's presence. The list could go on and on. Our favorite subject should be Jesus Christ and His transforming salvation.

The apostle Paul spoke freely of his great sin before redemption. (Acts 26:12-18). He was a church persecutor transformed into Christ's spokes person by Grace. Nothing within Paul was worth saving, and he knew it. Consequently, the man never stopped publicly praising and proclaiming the Lord's love.

Even with the magnitude of Paul's sins, he received no greater measure of grace than any of us. That Grace is for everyone who comes to Him. We may have lived a moral life before receiving salvation, but sin still separated us from God. Believers sometimes neglect that truth and forget Jesus' transforming power. Then we find ourselves too embarrassed or uncomfortable to share about the great change He made in our lives.

SEED WORD:

We might be tempted to think we are better than the sinning Paul, the unmarried couple living next door, our drug sister or adulterous brother. We are not. What separates "us" and "them" is believers and unbelievers. We have received Jesus and they still need to hear our passionate love for Him because of what he has done in our lives.

Sometimes we can get on our soap box and preach all we want about what is the good news, but it is when we put our personal testimony with it that we have impact. So if you've overcome in a particular area tell it to people who are still stuck where you once were and how Jesus made you and overcomer.