what drives a conversation? i love jesus and have for a few years now. for a long time i wondered why jesus never came up naturally in conversations, rather it always seemed to be the things i hate that came up, such as getting shit faced, drugs, and sex. why though? i know that for some reason jesus comes up in conversations now for the first time in a long time with non-christians, but what changed? i became more of a hardass. that is what jesus does to you. He makes you much more of a hardass that is filled with love. to explain that statement, i do not care what another person things about me having a relationship with jesus and wanting to glorify Him, but i was softened in that i love people instead of writing them off if they didn't fit into my category.

People want to be approved of, we desire attention and approval above all. if you are capable of lovingly without being scared or angry tell someone that you don't do what they do, that you live differently, i really have no found someone who has mocked me when i say it lovely and firmly. i am sure there are a few, but in a larger sense, we ask why are this or that, sex or drugs, becoming prominent?

Psalm 12:8
" the wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men." we honor what is against christ and people will proudly display dishonorable behavior because it gets them attention. It is honored, it is praised, it makes us gain approval. that is why people pursue things that are dishonoring. this is the same reason why we try to surround ourselves with a community of christian. to reinforce behavior that is christ like and to hold us accountable to the standards of christ so we may grow. If a community is built on standards that are not christ like, those behaviors are going to be perpetuated. so, as a christian, what do you do?

ask yourself, who is in your community that isn't a christian? how are you displaying and showing the benefits and acceptance in gods own eyes for having a relationship on jesus and laying everything you could not do on the one who could? how does your community display an absolute broken plea for someone who can live what you can't? how does your life and conversations show that you are resting in a person who did everything we cannot?

how do you live your dependence?