As the weather starts to cool a bit (FINALLY!!), we start looking to doing more outside again. During the blistering heat of the summer, we tend to go out of doors only to do what is absolutely necessary and even then procrastinating until those things just can't be put off any longer. One of these activities is the infamous backyard barbecue. We spend hours, sometimes even days preparing our back yards to receive our friends and family. We labor over our lists, our shopping and the preparing of the food. We even painstakingly go over and over our list of guests. We have to make sure that one friend isn't mortal enemies with another....that you don't have the mean in-laws at the same time as the nice ones (I'm not saying anything at all about mine, mind you!). But, will Jesus be an invitee on your guest list?Let me explain what I mean. We live our lives, day to day, doing the normal things that we do. We clean, cook, do laundry, some of us go to a job in the workforce outside of our homes...you know the drill. These activities can get hum drum and even tedious at times, but, it's what we do during these actions that really matters.
Now, I'm not saying that these daily tasks aren't to be done. I'd sure hate to come to your barbecue if you don't ever clean your house! But what I am saying is, put God as the center of each and every thing that you do! God created us for his glory and he takes glory in EVERYTHING that we do. Whether it's bringing someone to Christ or washing our dishes. (I use my dish-washing time to pray and I always have praise music on in the background. Sometimes I crank up the music to almost ear-splitting volumes (just ask my husband), and just worship him as I'm dusting or scrubbing toilets...don't say ewwww you do it too!)
The Bible is very clear on how we should be living our Christ-centered lives. Jesus is not just a "concept" but should be a huge reality in our daily routines. This is not a life that we choose just to participate in on Sundays. Accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior is a life-changing experience.
So, in lay-mans terms, this means that we should be representing Jesus in everything that we do. It is our responsibility to be witnessing to people in our lives, whether it be friends or people in the grocery store that strike up a conversation in the looooong lines at that mega store (yeah, you know the one of which I'm speaking).
Romans 8:10-11 in the NIV says "But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you." Now if that's not enough to make you shout for joy and request the presence of Jesus, not only at our backyard barbecues, but in our daily routines, I don't know what is!
© 2011 Stephanie Kepler
© 2011 Stephanie Kepler
