I Don't Want To Waste Anymore Time

So a lot of things have gotten me thinking... We have so little time here on this Earth so show people our love, but more importantly the love of Christ.
There are so many people in my life that I don't say "I love you" to enough. I don't want to take my friends for granted. You don't know how long you have with them. I want/need to start cherishing every moment with them, every conversation, every laugh, everything. My friends and family mean the world to me and I don't ever want to give them a reason to feel otherwise. I'm going to try my hardest to not sweat the small things anymore. To not turn things that aren't a big deal into a big deal. I don't want to lose a friendship over it. That would break my heart.
This past week has also caused me to realize that I'm not sharing Christ with my friends like I should be. Many times when I feel like I could share or just say "I'm praying for you" or "Pray about it" or "It's all in God's hands", I don't because I'm scared about their reaction. And I shouldn't be. I shouldn't be too scared about telling people about Jesus. I need to be telling everyone. I want to live radically for Christ... but at the same time I'm scared of the repercussions. I wish I could only care about what God thinks about my life and that I could care less about what this world thought. I'm praying that God will change that in me. He's the only one who can.
It makes me sad that most unbelievers don't see Christians as loving. The really sad thing is that they don't have much reason to think otherwise. I know many Christians who are so conservative that they lose sight of our purpose: to live like Christ. Jesus didn't sit down with the righteous and he was constantly seeking out everyone the "believers" looked down on. Why should we do anything less?
Awhile ago Lance and Shaun both posted blogs about loving people. Shaun talked in his blog about how Jesus was the ultimate personification of love and how in the end those He loved betrayed and killed Him. He asked if we are willing to love people to our own deaths? My response was "I think we shouldn't’t be scared to love others. What others do with the love we show them is their business. I want God to look at my life and see that I loved others in spite the possibility of me getting hurt in the end, in spite of how others use the love I give. Jesus knew his end. He knew that those He loved would betray Him. And He loved in spite of us all. Our goal should be to love others like Jesus. No matter what the consequences."
And I still feel that way. What do we have to lose? ...Our lives? Think about what we gain.
Heaven. Eternity with our Lord. See my "I Don't Want To Be Lukewarm" blog for full details on what we gain.
I don't live out a lot of what I've said in this blog. I'm not very outgoing when it comes to meeting new people and like I said, I don't share my faith with others like I should. But I'm trying. I think that's all we can do.. Try our hardest and let God make up for our weaknesses.