WHAT IF...I WAS ME

I originally wrote this 3 years ago!  I decided to re-publish it because so many Christians have expressed how they are struggling with being a loud, proud, Christian in today's world where WE are persecuted now more than anybody else.  The hate we are accused of spewing is spewed at us with complete hatred.  We are mocked, beaten, and beheaded.  We are not even defended by our own government and our freedom of religion and speech and every other constitutional right we enjoyed in this country is being stripped from us as if we never had a constitution in this country at all.  

Even our love is rejected as offensive.  Just read the comments after any article about a Christian in the LGBT Huffington Post.  These can hurt as much as an ISIS beheading!  Where is the love you say you want? I ask that to ALL of you?  If hatred and offensive rants have replaced your sermons on equality and acceptance than your cause is doomed to fail!  Like, seriously fail.  

I say that because only love lasts forever.  Only love has power.  Power to change.  Power to heal.  Only love endures.  This is why the Gospel, the message of Christ, the example of a man who loved so much He died for us all, continues to this very day to be the most talked about, read, enduring, lasting book in the world.  The Gospel.  It preaches, has preached, and will continue to preach LOVE forever and always. 

This Gospel of Jesus Christ is why I call myself a Christian. #Follower of Christ. 

So, I say once again, in spite of how politically incorrect it has become...

What if...today I was a REAL Christian!

What if...today I decided NOT to tip-toe around the truth so as not to offend, but to actually defend the Word of God that lives inside me!

What if...today I decided not to look like the rest of the world, but to look like Jesus, by whose name I am saved?!

What if...today I told you to your face that you're lying and that to lie is a sin?!

What if...I told you I don't want to hear about the girl, or the guy, that you slept with this weekend and how good the sex was, because fornication is a sin and if you continue in it you risk going to hell?!

What if...I asked you not to curse around me.

What if...I explained that the fruit of the Spirit of Christ is joy, and kindness, and patience, and gentleness, love, and self-control.

What if I told you that you're not a Christian, because by your fruits I don't even recognize you?!

What if...What if...

What if...I lost my patience with compromising my faith to make you comfortable.

What if...I threw you out of my house when you use the Lord God Almighty's name in vain?!

What if...I was loving, yet honest, about how the compromises of this world and the serving of Satan sickens me?!

What if...I dared to be politically incorrect and actually BE a Christian?! 

What if...I told you that I refuse to live in secret hoping not to offend your beliefs when you offend me and mine EVERY SINGLE DAY by your words, your deeds, and your actions?!

This would be very dangerous! I know.

Yet, what if...

What if...I dared to be dangerous for Jesus?!

What if...I dared to stand up for my faith by my life, my love, and the depth of His wisdom inside me...and not my words?!

The Kingdom of God suffers so much violence. 

What if...we violently, forcefully, took it back?!

What if...I told you that Jesus will do just that?!

What if...I dare to live my life violently taking it back from you, and what you want me to be, to be liked by you, and accepted by you?!

Because I don't care if you like me or accept me!

What if... I told you that you do NOT define me, you will never DEFINE me, and you cannot even try to define ME?!

What if... I lived ONLY for my Creator by whose will and for whose pleasure I exist?!

What if...