Day 19 ~ The Purpose Driven Life ~ Lay bare your Christianity to the world

Day 19 ~ The Purpose Driven Life ~ Cultivating Community

Lay Bare You’re Christianity to the World ~ Let them see Christ!

 

“For none of us lives to himself alone, and none of us dies to himself alone.” Romans 14:7 (BSB)

As you sit there reading this, you are the centre to which all information flows and the encircled embodiment from which you will touch the world around you today.

Every one of us has a certain number of hanger-on’ers that feed off our existence. These hanger-on’ers may be husbands, parents, children and one type of family or the other. It may amaze you if you stand still for a moment and think of how many people you will interact with in one way or the other through your and their physical presence, but also far beyond through your cyber existence. At the time when the Bible was written, both old and new Testaments, the reach of the common man was no further than his breath could carry. Progressively, our privacy is now in this modern time increasingly inundated with cyber noise from the interaction of the world surrounding us.

Purify and sanction what you feed your mind and soul. Keep proper and righteous cyber company and physical company. Do not allow the evil one access to your attention. Protect yourself by turning him off and walking away.

“Living clean in a contaminated world.

You wouldn’t intentionally eat or drink poison that could harm or destroy your body. Yet you may be consuming poison that’s hazardous to your soul without even realising it.

Toxic attitudes, behaviours, and cultural influences that you allow into your life put your soul in danger. You can’t avoid contact with such toxins in this fallen world, but you don’t have to be contaminated by them. You can detoxify your soul and start experiencing the pure life that God wants you to enjoy. Here’s how:

Realise that everything counts. Absolutely everything that you allow into your mind and life has on impact on how you grow or don’t grow spiritually. The little choices that you make every day add up to a significant effect on your soul. So take your everyday decisions seriously.

Identify the lies that have deceived you, and replace them with the truth. Examine your life for toxic: behaviours (what you do that harms your spiritual effectiveness or distracts you from God’s purposes for your life), emotions (feelings that lead you away from God’s truth), and consumptions (media you consume and people you spend time with). Ask God to give you the wisdom you need to discern which of all of those are toxic to you.”  (Information from “10 Ways to Detoxify Your Soul Right Now” – ^L1)

Your identity is manifested by what flows out from you to the people who interact with you. How is it that we could be under the misconception that we determine our identity? As we walk through the day we are very much like a chameleon changing our visible form to suit the environment of the present time. Is what you present the truth about who and what you are?

Unfortunately, the facade that we present to others is often for our own protection and enhancement of our safety. Safety from their gossip, safety to us that we do not want to be drawn into uncomfortable discussions, and safety that we do not want to be taken to places where there is a lot of hurt.

Lay bare your Christianity to the world.

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (BSB)

Link into fellow Christians and intentionally build the right community for you and your family to live in.

“No person can live in isolation; our life does and will touch others.
Neither can nor will our life or death distance us from Christ for we are and remain his property. The father has given us to him.
The death that Jesus died and his resurrection is our ultimate inclusion and the only relevance of our life and death.
Nothing qualifies us to judge others or condemn them. We can only stand in the footprint of Christ.
It is recorded by the prophet that he heard God say “My very life is the guarantee of my conviction, Every knee shall bow to me in worship, and the whole earth will spontaneously speak in worship and affirmation from the same God inspired origin.” ~

{Shadow ; “Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
By myself I have sworn;
from my mouth has gone out in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
‘To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.’ Isaiah 45:22-23 (ESV)}

 ~ For this very reason the logic of God will be found  in you” Romans 14:7-12 (Para)

Further reading for your reflection : http://purposedriven.com/day19/

 

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Reference;

L1 ~  Primary Link; http://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/detoxify-your-soul.html

Adapted from Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World, copyright 2012 by Craig Groeschel. Published by Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Mich., www.zondervan.com.

Craig Groeschel is the founding and senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv, a pace-setting multi-campus church and creators of the popular and free YouVersion Bible App. He is the author of several books including Weird, The Christian Atheist and It. Craig, his wife, Amy, and their six children live in Edmond, Oklahoma. Visit his church’s website at:http://www.lifechurch.tv/.

Whitney Hopler is a freelance writer and editor who serves as both a Crosswalk.com contributing writer and the editor of About.com’s site on angels and miracles (http://angels.about.com/). Contact Whitney at: an**********@ab***.com to send in a true story of an angelic encounter or a miraculous experience like an answered prayer.