Grace, Being proud of Jesus

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What I am going to blog about, I have more or less blogged about a long time ago. But anyway. Something today made me want to revisit this. So.

How would you react if someone called you "holy", not in a positive way? As in, they don't exactly mean it positively, and maybe they say it with a scoff.

When my friend mentioned me to a friend, her friend said, "she very holy one!" And I thought (^_-) and (O_o). Now, I'm not here to say I am holy (and I am far from perfect), or to boast or whatever. Instead, what I want to talk about is...

I remember in secondary school when my classmate saw me writing verses on the back of my foolscap pad and she exclaimed "you so holy!", not in the most positive way. I must admit that my initial reaction was embarrassment. After all, being holy is not exactly anywhere near cool, because for some people, the word "holy" conjures images of solemn chapels and priests and well, that sort of thing. And remember, I was at this stage we call "teenage". People at that stage in life are trying to grapple with things like identity, acceptance and fitting in.

But after a while, I felt bad for feeling embarrassed. Because I should have felt proud instead.

It's not always easy to be proud for Jesus, and to shine and stand up for Him. Sometimes, we would rather hide away that "Jesus part" of our lives, and be "normal" with everyone else, especially in a world where Jesus isn't a common denominator.

Even in polytechnic, it was at first hard to proudly and openly say I was a Christian. But as with many things, they get easier once you get more used to it. I learnt to stand up, and stand firm. And you know, God honours you when you honour Him. Somehow along the way, people knew I was a Christian, and there were a few who talked to me about Christianity and stuff. Oh they were not always positive things, but that's okay. Come to think of it now, there were a few who did, consciously or not, watch my life. Isn't that scary - people are always watching you! Bad or good, whoever you are or whatever kind of person you are, people are always watching. Anyway, that's lifestyle evangelism - where you live life as how you would for Jesus, and people notice, and eventually, they recognise that "Jesus factor" in your life.

I really liked it when at Hillsong Conference 2007's Youth Workshop, Phil Dooley was talking about 1 Corinthians 11:1 which says, "Imitate me as I imitate Christ". I thought - that is so cool! I want to live a life like that. A life that is worth imitating, that is worth being like.

What does Jesus call us to do? He calls us to "shine as stars in the universe" (Philippians 4:14-15). And how do we do that? In simple ways. God is very practical. Christianity is not all fuzzy/abstract and religious. God is very applicable, if I may put it in that way. You can "apply" God in every situation. He's in everything. Just live life! Be nice and kind, be there for a friend when he or she needs you, write a note to someone for random reasons - you don't need a special occasion to write notes, be helpful, go out of your way, pray for someone. Do everything in love. Offer a sweet, be honest, be diligent in your school work, smile, laugh. It's just these little everyday things. When you live life for Jesus, somehow, you exude something that's different from others - the "shine" naturally comes about.

Be proud of your Jesus, shine for Him. He's so worth shining for :)

I'll end this with something I blogged earlier this year:

The picture of a cross in my mind. Since there's this saying, "Hide me behind the cross," instead of looking from the front, I imagine myself behind the cross this time.

From that perspective, I see the ugly faces of men, mocking and boo-ing Jesus. I see them throw rock and stone at the cross, towards this direction. They hit him. And I am behind, sheltered by the cross.

He just gets pelted.

Would I be able to get up and stand before the cross (and my Jesus) to defend it? To be the one pelted at instead? Ah. That is what it means to be crucified. Dare I take a stand? To "protect" my Jesus? His image is being torn... will I allow my image to be the one destroyed (such that I care not for myself) so His image will not be tarnished?

The question here is - do I dare come out from hiding, to say that I love Jesus - I esteem Him better than myself - so I will be bold, and come forward to defend Him?

You say to be of good courage.

Shout it out loud, sing it proud
That Jesus Christ has saved and set me free