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Is He really worth you standing up against the crowd, daring to be different? Is the foundation that He provides worth standing on? Should you really bother to wait to have sex until you are married? These questions and more probably enter our minds more often than most of us would like to admit. Why should we really stand strong for Christ? First of all, consider yourself truly blessed if you know, believe, and follow Jesus Christ. Simply knowing that He exists is a start, the seed has been planted for eternal life. Christ provides us the hope. This is the hope and promise of life beyond this earth, life in heaven! As believers we know that our stay on this earth is only temporary. If we keep our eyes focused on Christ, we do not have to concern ourselves with the desires of the world, but only the desires of Christ. We are then free to serve others, not serving ourselves as the world calls us to do. We can still be out for "number one" but our Number One can offer us hope, not despair, forgiveness not condemnation. Christ also provides us with a self-worth. One that is far greater than any worth we can find by what society calls, "finding yourself." He gives us unconditional love, something that many nonbelievers have never even heard of. Stop for a second and try to imagine what life would be like without the unconditional acceptance of our creator. Pretty hard to feel wanted sometimes, huh? Christ can fulfill each of our needs and will love us no matter how many times we fail. Christ also provides us with guidelines as to how we should live. These are in no way to hinder us from "having a good time." They are only to keep us safe and well. An example of this is God teaching us to abstain form sex before marriage. He does for several reasons... disease, emotional sanity, attachments, ect... I'm sure you have heard them all. It only makes sense to remain a virgin until marriage, yet many non-believers have never heard that sex should be saved for marriage. Because God loves us so much He made these rules to keep us safe and happy. Many non-believers feel they must "live for the moment" and not worry about the past or the future. God, however, has a plan that will keep His followers content and fulfilled at any point in their lives. Christ calls us to be lights in this world. We need to know what we believe and why we believe it. We need to share God's love with others and not our own feelings of condemnation toward others. We are NOT the judges... we are here to share God's love. We need to be consistent with our words AND our actions. Hypocrisy gets one no where! We need to be vulnerable with people, be willing to tell them how God has truly worked in our lives and what He REALLY means to us. If we find ourselves having a hard time explaining to someone how important Jesus Christ is to us then perhaps we need to evaluate our pursuit of a relationship with Him. If we are putting little into the relationship we are probably getting little out. God is with us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. How often are you with Him? Time invested in the secular world may bring you a glimpse of happiness while time invested in the eternal can promise crowns in Heaven. }Kathie Knitt |