ou reach that place where you LOVE GOD. You worship HIM, you want to serve HIM. Your heart is softening. You would rather be in the Word that go to the movies. You would rather spend the evening with someone special and talk about what following Jesus meant to you today then watch TV. But, you are worried about what others might say or think. How would they judge you? You are not yet crucified with Christ. You still look outside instead of inside; and that comes with a risk- your heart could easily harden. I don’t really care what others think when they criticize my relationship with God. I care what He thinks. I care what He tells me to do. I want to talk with you about Jesus. But sometimes I think I am the only person on earth who wants Jesus as much as I do- not the religious Jesus, but the LIVING Jesus. I know it has come with a price that pains me. But, that is what it means to live by faith. There are many scripture verses about living by faith, but, for me Galatians 2:20 sums it all up: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” The faith of the Son of God, who loves you and gave himself for you. Does he really live in you today or do you worry about the things of the world and what people would think and say if you started following Jesus? Who do you talk to at the end of the day? Who do you pray with every morning? Where is the joy in your life that comes with living by faith? Practice LIVING faith and you will find you are the happiest person you know, and that’s contagious.

i-CH