Are You Lost

I was thinking about a bumper sticker that I saw once. It read, " If you are following me you are lost too." It made thought about the way we should live our lives as Christians. It is so easy to go through the day not giving thought to the fact that we are representatives of Jesus. We have to make a conscious effort on the daily to tune our minds to that idea. Just as we put on our name tags or ID badges for our jobs, when we get baptized into the family of Christ that is our new identity. It tells the world who we are and who we belong to. I feel we immediately become leaders as we follow Jesus. And we are to be winners of souls (Proverbs 11:30).

I have been a morning person all of my life. No matter how late I get to bed I usually can get right up on time without an alarm clock. As of late that hasn’t been the case. In the morning I hit the snooze for 45 minutes and as I lay there I tell God, “The only way I can get out of this bed is if you get me out and I mean it. I need you!” I get moving with the morning routine. By the time I get Sienna to school I am tired again and could really go back to bed but that is not an option. I must forge ahead. As I drive to my destination I meditate asking God to not only give me the energy to get through the day but the ability to do it with good cheer. I have to ask for the good cheer part because I can be a beast when I am tired. Now that I know myself, I can reign myself in before it becomes a problem. This took time to learn. If I was tired and grouchy I did not care who felt the wrath. It was all about me, and I was this way not too long ago as a newly baptized Christian.

In 1 Corinthians 11:1 Paul says to the church “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” Wherever we go we are being watched or listened to. Some are watching because they truly look up to us and some are watching in hopes we stumble so they can have something to talk about. Either way we should conduct ourselves the way Paul has urged us. I want others to see God in me as I exercise patience and self control on the mornings I am most fatigued. I don’t want the lost to follow my foolish actions and end up further off course than they already are.

Here are a few sayings my grandmother used to say to us grandchildren when we got into trouble. I think they would make good bumper stickers: You are the blind leading the blind. If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything. What does the bumper sticker of your life say about you?