And what we do in here will fill the streets out there

Tonight in Cru (Campus Crusades for Christ), we sang a song that sunk deeply into my heart. Here are some of the lyrics:

And what we do in here
Will fill the streets out there
Let us dance for you
Let us dance for you

So often we go to church, Sunday school, Bible study, etc. and everyone is so into God, you can't imagine feeling any other way. But let me ask you this: what happens when you leave? What happens when you go to classes the next day and one of your professors puts down Christianity? What happens when you see a pregnant teenager or a person following the Muslim faith?

Do you show love to those people?

When we're at church, or groups like Cru, we feel safe. We feel we can profess our faith, shout it to the rooftops, as loudly and as proudly as we desire. We show love to everyone (I hope). I we welcome everyone into the arms of Jesus. But when we leave and start a new day, do we do the same?

So if you get to school and that professor starts mocking the Christian faith, do you get up and leave? Do you drop the class? Or do you stay and witness the love of God to that teacher every single time you go to class? Do you raise your hand and say "I'm sorry, Mr./Ms./Dr./Professor ________, but I disagree with you." in front of the class (or perhaps right after class)?

When the pregnant teenager walks down the street or hallway, what are you thinking? Perhaps you're thinking to yourself, "well she made a big mistake and now she's going to live with those consequences!" OR do you consider the fact that maybe this pregnancy wasn't the result of willful premarital sex, and rather it was rape and she was strong enough to keep that unborn life inside of her.

And what about the person of the Muslim faith? Do you judge him/her just because others like him/her did something horrible to our country? I sure hope not. There's a group of self-professed Christians going around and protesting even at funerals against things they believe are wrong, rather than showing love to those people. If you, as a Christian, don't associate yourself with other Christians who show no love towards outsiders, who are you associate another human being with the people of another faith who made bad decisions?

A long time ago, I asked my mother what to do when I knew someone who was living in sin. She always told me:
Love the sinner; hate the sin.
After all, every sin is equal to God.
Murder = lying = premarital sex = cheating on a test = treating yourself badly.

If you get nothing else out of this, please know this:
God loves you. God loves them. If God loves them, you should love them, too.
If you show love to these people, they might just come to know Jesus as well!

So here's my challenge to you. I'm going to take this challenge as well; I hope you'll tell me how it works out for you!

Take your faith with you wherever you go. In this coming week, let what you do inside the doors of your church or Christian organization fill the streets outside of those walls. Step out of those boundaries, and proclaim yourself as a child of God to the WORLD. Compliment someone.Talk to someone to whom you normally wouldn't. Make a new friend. Stand up for someone. Tell all of Facebook! Do something that will take you over-the-top. I can almost guarantee that you'll feel GREAT after you do! :)

Have a super terrific evening!