It's kind of like praying silently, it isn't an invalid prayer God still hears and honors a silent prayer, but there is something so powerful about a word, or a life, spoken out loud. A Christian life out loud declares love through faith in three ways; one, love for Christ to Christ; two, love for Christ to the world; and three, love for Christ to your fear.
Love for Christ to Christ. It is the difference between whispering I love you and yelling it. Now, there is a time and place for both. A whispered declaration of adoration can be extremely potent, and I believe that that is what our worship and personal relationship and devotion to Jesus is for. But imagine whispering I love you in a crowded mall or at a carnival. There is so much going on that your sentiments simply become apart of the noise. So it is with our lives. I believe that the hustle and bustle of our own lives sometimes drowns out our quiet murmurs of affection. If we want God to be confident in our love for Him, sometimes it requires a bigger gesture than what we are used to. It is not about earning His love, we could never earn it, and why try when He assured us that we already have it anyway. It is simply about showing Him how much we love Him.
Love for Christ to the world. I cannot count the number of times I have heard someone say that their main reservation about religion is the people who participate. If there is seemingly no difference between Christians and the rest of the world morally or otherwise, then there is absolutely no reason for someone to believe that they should become a Christian.
If we are God's hands and feet, then what are we doing to help and heal the world? How are we benefiting the souls that we are trying to save? It is not just a school of thought that we want to share with others, it is a lifestyle. Are you modeling it?
Love for Christ to our fears. I agree with my mentor Ricky Temple who said that satan doesn't have to do much. Most of the time he just plants the seed and lets us do the rest. To that end I think that fear is our second worst enemy. Fear of being alone, or unwanted, of doing to much, or not enough. The list goes on and on until one day you realize you have talked yourself out of every great opportunity, simply because you were afraid.
But, a love out loud to Christ makes me think of when I was younger. There was a really dark and cold hallway downstairs in our house. Our family room (aka my playroom) was on the other side. It was one of my favorite rooms in the house, but of course in order to get to it I had to walk through this terrifying hallway. The light switch was on the other end near the playroom, so I had to walk through the darkness to get to both. I have always had an active imagination, so my mind was full of invisible creatures and spirits that might be lurking and waiting to attack. One day, I decided to try something to silence them, I stood at the edge of the hallway and spoke out loud to the darkness. It may sound silly, but it really helped, and the fact that it made me feel better gave me even more confidence. Now don't get me wrong I still walked pretty briskly down the hallway, but I wasn't paralyzed by my fear. That is what faith out loud does, it empowers you to walk through the darkest places knowing that you will never walk alone. God was with me in my hallway, and He will be with you in yours.
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