Sometimes, I think we get so consumed with the agendas we keep and the responsibilities placed upon us that we forget who we are. We step into the whirlwind of calendars, appointments, wishes and desires, and we forget our purpose, our progress and our potential. We simply lay down who we were meant to be and pick up all the expectations of someone else.

STOP IT! LET IT GO! REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE!

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think so. In this modern culture, Christians are relegated to being these hyper, over-the-top, radical, nonsense-speaking idiots simply because we do not want to conform to the liberal mindset of the world. Just because the louder voices among us hate who we are doesn’t mean we should listen to them. Just because those voices threaten to disagree or spew ridicule doesn’t mean we should lay down every bit of goodness and righteousness simply because they can’t see.

Who gave them that kind of authority? Who released their judgement as right and true? Unfortunately, WE DID. We’ve got to STOP!

We were never called to be like this world. We were never destined to yield our beliefs and our standards to the crowd who disagrees. They oppose our very being, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t exist.

We need to stop listening to the lies of hatred and start reading again. We need to shut off the news and the media and get back to our prayer closets and our houses of worship. We’ve stayed in the mainstream so long, we’ve forgotten who we’re called to be. We’ve sought after man’s approval for far too long, and we’ve neglected Whose affirmation matters most: His. We need to return to our first live and forsake our worldly adorations.

Does that mean we become hermits, shut off from the world, never listening, never speaking, never approaching the differences around us? NO. Does that mean we become relics, hovering over our Bibles, never engaging in intellectual conversations, never debating our faith, never communicating the gospel to those who dispute our every move? NO. Does that mean we become hate-filled and ridiculously unapproachable, “preachy,” and “religious minded.” NO.

It simply means, we return to Him, and allow His light to shine once more. It means we remember our purpose, our calling, our destiny. It is not to settle into this world nor the things of it. It means we recollect our history, our heritage and our home, and we seek to live in Him and not of them! It means we go out, take this story He has given us and all we’ve learned of Him and share it, sprinkle it, “seed” it into the ground He places before us. It means we recollect those promises He’s given, we reminisce those moments of victory He has delivered, we relive those miracles He’s brought to our everyday life, and we share them with this world around us.

Stop trying to fit in and follow, and start standing out and LEAD!

“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.” 1 John 4:4-6

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9