Awakening: How To Follow JesusSample

AUDACITY

When I was in grade school I had a friend whose father was an officer in the army. He was normal in every respect, but he walked around school as if it was he was the one who had fought for our nation. This young man's identity was informed by his fathers position. Our Father is the Creator of the universe and has chosen us as His sons and daughters. Certainly we do not deserve this honor; what we deserve is to be enslaved to sin and death. Yet, because of Gods grace we are set free and He calls us His own. God sent His son so that we could become His sons.

When Jesus was 13, His parents brought Him to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. As they were returning home, they noticed him missing. After days of searching, they finally found Jesus in the temple discussing scripture with the teachers. When asked what He was thinking, He replied, “Did you not know that I would be about my Fathers business?” Jesus understood that His purpose on Earth was to be a representative of His Father in Heaven, and since you are sons, your purpose is the same. In Christ, you are now heirs to the kingdom of heaven, and you have been given authority by God to be His ambassadors. You are needed because there is much work to be done. We need go about it as if your father is the owner of the universe. Allow His position to inform your identity. Serve God with boldness and reckless abandonment. Do not be metered, balanced, or half-hearted in your attempt, but act as a son with full confidence in His dad. Act as if eternities hung in the balance. Act! And act with audacity.

As we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the Day of Judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.