Christian Living

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If You Deny Me....
By
Pamela S. Thibodeaux
(c)2001


Being a writer I read a lot of books for research and inspiration. Being a Christian I read for knowledge and wisdom as well as deeper understanding of God's word. Most of the time I am blessed enough to gain all of these things from what I read.

Recently I read the book "No Wonder They Call Him Savior" by Max Lucado. The book is a study on the Cross and those present (and missing) at the cross on that fateful day when Christ was sacrificed.

Let me tell you something, this is one book EVERY Christian should read. In fact, they should own it and read it over and over and over. It is that powerful!!

There are chapters that make you smile (yes smile), chapters that make you cry, chapters that make you reflect on your own faith and chapters that RIP your heart out.

This man has a unique way of expressing the Grace of God through Jesus Christ and I feel EVERY believer (regardless of your denomination) will benefit from reading this book.

How did I benefit? I have a deeper appreciation for Christ's sacrifice and knowing He did it for ME. We all presume that we wouldn't desert Him in His darkest hour. But, would we? How many times do we desert or reject Him today?

Several years ago, as a new Christian, I was meditating on the Scripture "if you deny Me before men, I will deny you before My Father" (Matthew 10:32). I prayed that I would never deny Christ. As I mentioned, I was a new Christian and not very bold in my faith outside of church. I was also new at listening to Christian radio. (I was--and still am--a country music fan) Anyway, I would always turn the radio off of the Christian station when I got out of the car because I knew no one else in my family liked the music. Well, immediately after praying that I would not deny Jesus this occurred and God spoke very plainly to me: "Why do you turn the station? Isn't that a way of denying Me? If they don't like the music, let them change the station."

Talk about an eye opener!!

Now, some of you may think that I'm exaggerating a bit, but I'm not! Since that day, I do not change the station. My local Christian music station is programmed on my radio and every radio I own is set to it.

The result? Well, my family is not so quick to change the station. Sometimes they just turn it down a bit but leave it alone. And one of my children (a choreographer) loves Christian music. In fact, he tries to use an upbeat Christian song for all of the kick dances he creates !!

I believe we would all benefit by praying for God to reveal to us the seemingly "little" ways we reject Him in our daily life. It will greatly aide us in becoming stronger, bolder Christians. There are many things we say and do that we may not even realize are hurtful to Jesus. And, anytime you hurt Him, you reject Him.

Many of you have read many of my articles and (hopefully) you know I don't write to condemn but to inspire. Same goes for this article. We all fall from grace. We all make mistakes. We all reject Christ (yes, I still do, too). But isn't that what Grace is all about? If we never fell, we wouldn't need the healing power of God's mercy!

I love Christ with all my heart and I pray daily that I not fail Him in any way. When I do, I pray (and try to listen) when the Holy Spirit convicts me! Sometimes it's little things that matter (like not paying for a stamp I took from work), but the Bible says: "It's the little foxes that spoil the vine."

May we ALL open our hearts and minds to Christ's teachings and not be so quick to defend our actions when we are convicted. Yes, many others who claim to be Christians are just as bad (or worse) than we. Yes, the world is hard to live in. Yes, it's VERY hard to live what we believe. Christ never said it would be easy. He did say, however, that we would not be alone!

PS: Yes, I reimbursed my employer for the stamp. (I had every intention of doing so from the beginning...Thank God He didn't let me forget!)


Pamela S. Thibodeaux is the co-founder the Bayou Writer’s Group in Lake Charles, Louisiana and a member of ACRW (American Christian Romance Writers). Multi-published in fiction and non-fiction, her writing has been tagged as “Inspirational with an Edge!” Author's Website: http://www.pamelathibodeaux.com Author's Email: [email protected]


This article first appeared @ Themestream.com and in Milk & Honey for the Hungry Heart; a compilation of inspirational short stories, essays and poems by Christian E-Authors. Distributed by Writer’s Exchange E-publishing. Get your FREE copy today!

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