What does your facebook profile say about you?

I know I’m gonna step on a few toes by writing this but I felt it was something that needed to be addressed. I have noticed that people treat facebook like its Las Vegas .. its almost like “what happens on facebook stays on facebook”, but we all know thats not true. Now, I am a self confessed social networking addict and facebook is my main drug of choice. What I’ve noticed is that people tend to unintentionally reveal more about themselves then they realize. I love to browse through my friends photos to see what’s going in there lives .. its like a window into ones life. One thing I have noticed is that every now and then I see photos of someone at a party with a beer in there hand looking a like they have had more then two or three. These are people I know as Christians and while I have many friends in the church with many different views on drinking alcohol I tend to take the stance that getting drunk is a bad thing. So I pose these questions: What do your facebook photos say about you? If Jesus came back today and decided we would all be judged based on our facebook photos would you be nervous?

Understanding who we are in Christ.

I am by no means a perfect Christian or someone who thinks he’s got this salvation thing locked down, but one thing I have noticed is that a lot of Christians do not have a clear concept of who they are in Christ. Now I’m not underestimating the devils capability to take ones fears and use them against them to cause that person to fall or question there faith because its happened to me and I’ve seen it happen to countless friends. For me, one of the key elements of faith is understanding who you are in Christ.

The more I begin to understand who I am in Christ, the more I find myself doing things and saying things that I would have never imagined. Now, I’ve always been the kind of Christian who would rather be a casual witness then one who preaches on the street corner. My mission field of choice is the local espresso bar and to those of you know me that comes as no surprise all. Talking is a natural gift of mine.. my wife says I love the sound of my own voice .. I don’t know .. maybe I do or maybe its just the evangelist in me. Either way my gift of the gab seems to pay off when it comes to chatting to complete strangers about God. My point to all of this is that when you begin to understand who you are in Christ your faith begins to grow and your confidence grows alongside it. God gave his Authority to Jesus and since Jesus is in us we are also given that authority. But for the skeptics here’s a few key verses ..

Matthew 11:27 “My Father has given me authority over everything. No one really knows the Son except the Father, and no one really knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Psalm 8:6 “You put us in charge of everything you made, giving us authority over all things”

Zechariah 10:12 “I will make my people strong in my power, and they will go wherever they wish by my authority. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

Colossians 2:10 “and you are complete through your union with Christ. He is the Lord over every ruler and authority in the universe.”

.. And here’s my favorite ..

Revelation 2:26 “”To all who are victorious, who obey me to the very end, I will give authority over all the nations.

With any position of authority comes great responsibility. The Authority we have as Christians in the name of Jesus is not to be taken lightly. If I try to claim authority over a place or situation that is outside of the will of God things are going to go wrong. 2 Corinthians 10:13 is pretty clear on this .. “But we will not boast of authority we do not have. Our goal is to stay within the boundaries of God’s plan for us, and this plan includes our working there with you.” In other words you can’t go out to the clubs and have a few beers and expect to be covered under the Authority of God. His hand of protection may be on you but unless God has clearly spoken to you then its highly likely God doesn’t want you hanging out in clubs drinking. When we step outside of the will of God we open ourselves up to a wide variety of drama in our lives. As for me I’m all about having as little drama in my life as possible and I think overall a little bit of common sense applies here as well. In other words if you go to a club and get punched in the face don’t go blaming God for it, there’s a good chance he didn’t want you there in the first place.

To unlock the freedom found in understanding who we are in Christ Jesus is what leads us to the understanding of true freedom. Freedom is irrelevant if it is found in temporary situations. The only true freedom is the eternal freedom that can only be found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, Everything else is temporary. The banks, the automotive industry, the oil industry, the economic recession. It is all a pathetic spec of nothingness in comparison to the grace of my God. My whole life God has been teaching me a never ending lesson on trust. And so far what I’ve learned is that the more I trust in Him, the more I put my faith in Him, the more I understand the Authority I have in Christ. Ten years ago I knelt on the floor of my bedroom in total despair and confusion. I got on my knees with the determination that I was not going to get up until I was healed of the pain I was going through. I was healed that night and after I got up I made a deal with God to always put my trust in Him. That next morning a phone call changed my life and since then I’ve been to places I never would’ve imagined, and I am without a doubt a very blessed man, and its all because I trusted in the Authority of the name of Jesus.

So you basically have two options. You can go about doing things your way and trusting in your own ideas, or you can take a risk, let go and let God. Put your trust completely and utterly in Him and everything else .. and I do mean everything else will work out. Maybe not the way you thought it would, but I can tell you from experience that Gods way is the best way.