“I used to think I needed all the answers, I used to need to know that I was right. I used to be afraid of things I couldn’t cover up in black and white. But I just wanna look more like love” // “More Like Love” by Ben Rector
A few weeks ago, I was sent an article, published on Deeply Rooted‘s blog, titled Writing for Christ’s Glory. There is no exaggeration when I say that it changed my life and stirred something deep within my soul. I printed a copy of the article and keep it close by as a reminder with particular sections highlighted. There are so many excellent points, but the words that resonated with me were about how writing for Christ’s glory means that we give up our right to praise and fame. “It means that our heart’s aim is not to secure our own fame, but the fame of our King,” Ann Swindell writes.
I may never have a blog that becomes wildly popular and I may never have anyone besides my close friends and family read these words. But still I write. If the trials that I have endured in my life have taught me anything, it is that the things we say, think, and do in this one and only life that we have matter. Our Savior has done amazing things in my life and in my heart. When we have tasted and seen of God’s goodness in our own lives, how can we not feel compelled to share it? God didn’t carry me through the loss of six family members, completely and wholly changing my heart, just to have me keep the glory to myself.
God gave me a story to share amid the mess and the muck of the past two years, and he also gave me a voice. He’s giving me the strength to add my voice to the sea of others already proclaiming his glory. For so long now, this has been done primarily through this space, my blog. Gradually, He has been giving me opportunities to actually speak of God’s work in my life and my personal walk with Christ with those around me. There was a time when sharing my faith with others out loud would have seen like an outlandish thing for me to do so for me to do this and feel joy doing so, feels amazing. Where my head may have once been buried in the sand, I now see clearly where, and to whom, Christ is leading me and how I could be used there. We are called to live by example, even when it may be uncomfortable, even a little awkward. As I was praying over this post and thinking of what God would want me to say, the words of 1 Timothy 4:12 came to me.
“Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity” // 1 Timothy 4:12, NLT
When my family lost Nellie, my grandmother’s precious cousin, I wrote of how inspiring it is to see lives lived wholly for God. She so clearly lived and breathed her faith and she was probably never asked whether or not she followed Christ because of how she lived her life. I believe that we are called to be daily examples and reminders of God’s power and goodness with both the believers and non-believers in our lives, I pray that I always remember this and live my life in this way.
