Getting Uncomfortable

As my friend recently said when referring to his life and how he’s living it, “I’m getting uncomfortable”; this is a good thing.

More often lately I can reflect that same feeling. Perhaps it’s wanting to do more, or perhaps it’s wanting to drop more of my baggage at the cross, or perhaps at times it’s getting frustrated with my very unbalanced ratio of the number of His words I read compared to the number of His words I act out.  I too, am getting “uncomfortable”.

I know that I’ll be judged, and often times even more so by family and close friends who don’t share my faith (after all, the closer you are to someone, the more of their faults are seen). I’m far from perfect, I’ll gladly repeat that as many times as necessary, but yet it’s not from the judgment of others that I get my affirmation. I know the closer I step to Christ the more I will get weird looks, rolled eyes, and fingers pointed at me shouting “hypocrite”.

But that’s OK.

It’s more important that when people see me at work, they see 1 Peter 1:15, not just a Bible on my desk.

It’s more important that when people see my relationship with my wife, they truly see Ephesians 5:25, not just smiling faces.

It’s more important that when people see me at a party they see Romans 12:2 lived out in joy, not just someone who does things differently.

It’s more important that when I talk of my faith to others, I speak of it like 1 Peter 3:15, not like a judgmental religious person.

It’s more important for me to actually live out Matthew 28:19 than to volunteer in a few outreach activities a year.

It’s more important for me to think of my success in my career and my education as Paul does in Philippians 3:8 compared to Christ.

It’s more important for me to pray Proverbs 30:7-9 than to pray for things beyond what I truly need.

All I’m trying to say is that it’s more important for me to actually live out a handful of verses, than to be able to quote and cross-reference all of Scripture. My walk with the Lord is not a private thing; it needs to be seen in my life a lot more than it is now.

Getting uncomfortable,

~Matthew