#shereadstruth ~ a peculiar people

The scripture tagged along with the #shereadstruth devo today is Titus 2:6-10.

"..So that in everything they may adom the doctrine of God our Savior" Titus 2:10

This section of Titus is explain doing good works in everything you do. That is the hardest part of being a Christian I believe. It is relatively easy to say a prayer in which you declare God the Lord of your life. I think the problem is that after the prayer, we stop. We said the prayer and now we are done. The thing is that God's treasures require giving up your life. You literally give up your old self and become a new person. I have a hard time with this because I get irritated so easily. Being a teenage girl, my hormones are raging about 99.999999% of the time. I snap at people and don't show the love I need to show to people. I yell and scream about the tiniest things then end up crying my eyes out later on. I let the world get the best of me. I've learned that you chose how you act. You chose to wake up in a good mood or not. You chose to yell at your brother and call him stupid for leaving cheetohs in between the couch cushions or you learn to show him love while showing him the correct way to do things. We are so quick to find something to complain about. Our weight, our house, our school, our friends, and so on. I'm entirely guilty of this. We make the world a hard place to live in a lot of the time without even acknowledging that we just aren't living up to the word of God. This question today in my email sparked a unique thought to me :

" Do you think of yourself as an adornment to the gospel, as something that makes the gospel beautiful to the world ? "

I immediately thought of this amazing woman at my church. Something draws me in about someone who is so joyful about life. This woman made the gospel beautiful to me by the way she lived. She lived forgivingly and faithfully. She explained her happiness as a symptom of Jesus in her life. Ah how beautiful is that ? The way she talked and the way she gave glory to God for everything she had was mesmerizing. It was what I wanted. Her smile was true and never faded. Ya know when you travel and see all these amazing places, these vast mountains and clear, blue water that stretches thousand of miles? I just stand in awe that God made this beautiful place and it just draws me more in to explore deeper and deeper into it. THAT is what I think we need to be for Jesus. Be so beautiful a reflection that we draw people into this journey with Christ. Of course, my Jesus Calling devo went right along with my #shereadstruth. God is amazing in that way. "my world is full of beautiful things; they are meant to be pointers to me, reminders of my abiding presence" Isn't that true, that the ocean reminds you of his presence. The roaring waves remind me of him overturning my sins into grace. The calm after the storm reminds me of his healing. Wouldn't it be awesome if we reminded people of his presence just like the ocean does ?

" The heavens declare the glory of God
the skies proclaim the work of his hands
Day after day they pour forth speech
night after night they display knowledge"  Psalms 19: 1-2

My prayer is to be like the skies. That I will proclaim his work everyday and have the knowledge to share Jesus with anyone I meet. I'm not saying that I twill happen instantly because I am human. I do have days when it is hard to change my selfish attitude or it is hard to not flick my brother in the head. The key is trying. Simply start trying to make the gospel beautiful to the world. The world is a dark place needing light. Even a small flicker of light attracts.