Be like Him

   I'm home again, and thrown back into college. On Sunday I was lamenting to my Dad about not wanting to go back to class and he asked why, and my only answer was, "Because I have the rough draft of paper due tomorrow and I didn't know that until yesterday.." My answer was only based off a due paper, nothing astronomical or intense. But yet it changed my entire mood. I was groaning, grumpy, and just plain pathetic, all because of a silly paper that was unexpected.

   This situation can be related to a lot of things in life, Ask yourself what you do when someone is late to pick you up, or the people at Taco Bell get your order wrong, or if you have to wait in line at Meijers. We get impatient, upset, grumpy, etc...

   On the way home from Guatemala we came through Dallas, Fort worth.  A couple of people from our group had come down with colds, and honestly they had a pretty nasty cough. It literally sounded as if we had a couple of seals on the plane. Because of this passengers on the plane became anxious and scared because we came from out of the country and flew through Dallas. Dare I say it, the passengers thought that we had Ebola. They quickly told the stewardess who addressed the captain, and at 5:30pm we landed in GR. Upon landing there were ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars all waiting for us. We ended up waiting on the plane for two hours before they ruled out Ebola and we were able to get off the plane. (Yes, we made it on the news)

Yep, that's what it looked like...

    Now that my long story is done, the main emphasis isn't on Ebola, or the sick people. The main emphasis is on the peoples attitudes that were on the plane. They got mad, impatient, upset, rude, and complained a lot. I'm a listener and after running on three hours of sleep and 7 hours on a plane I didn't have any energy to speak anymore. So I listened. I was in shock at the amount of people complaining, even from people I didn't expect.. like people that were, "Christians".

   (Just a side note: If you want to discover who someone actually is, stick them on an 80 degree plane and make them sit there for two hours, you'll find out within 20 mins.)

   Upon getting off the plane I was walking next to my Mom heading towards the baggage claim and she asked me why people act like that. My answer, " Because we're selfish people, mom..."

We are selfish.

Rude.

Mean.

Impolite,

Inconsiderate.

   I could go on, but I'm sure by now you've figured it out that we aren't perfect. We call ourselves Christians and yet we're just as bad as everyone else. Why is that? Is it because we know we've been, "Forgiven" and therefore we can do whatever we want as long as we apologize to our Savior?

    Having forgiveness from Him doesn't mean we can constantly keep using it as a get out of jail free card. We as followers of Christ are called to be like Him!

"Whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked."

1 John 2:6

"For to this you have been called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps."

1 Peter 2:21

"To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."

Ephesians 4:22-24

What does it mean to be a christian then? If we called to be a new creation then how do we define Christianity?

"To be a Christian is to be loved by God, pursued by God, and found by God. To be a Christian is to realize that in your sin, you were separated from God's presence, and you deserved nothing but God's wrath. Yet despite your darkness and in your deadness, his light shone on you and his voice spoke to you, inviting you to follow him. His majesty captivated you soul and his mercy covered your sin, and by his death he brought you life... Jesus died for you so that he might live in you, Jesus doesn't merely improve your old nature; he imparts to you an entirely new nature-one that is completely united with his."." - David Platt

 We are Christians merely because of the grace of God. He died so that we might become like him, perfect, whole, and complete.

In Him,
Rachel