Let My LIFE be the Proof

So there is a song on Christian radio right now that is very popular and one that I love a lot. It is called "The Proof of Your Love" by for King and Country. I have been known in the past to create a devotional from a song that catches my heart. It has been awhile since this has happened but this song has been on my mind a lot lately. Every time it comes on the radio I just want to sing it at the top of my lungs. I have posted the lyrics here to be read for those of you who don't know the song. I encourage you to look it up. This band is amazing.

"The Proof Of Your Love"

If I sing but don't have love
I waste my breath with every song
I bring an empty voice, a hollow noise
If I speak with a silver tongue
Convince a crowd but don't have love
I leave a bitter taste with every word I say

So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
If I give 
To a needy soul but don't have love then who is poor?
It seems all the poverty is found in me

So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
Oh, let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love

When it's all said and done
When we sing our final song
Only love remains
Only love remains

Let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love

So I bolded and turned to blue the lyrics of the chorus. This is the part that gets me every single time. I try to let my life be the proof of God's Love each an every day. Now like every human I fail and I fail miserably. Sometimes it is easy to let worldly things come between me and the God that I live to serve. Now when this happens it is solely me pulling away because God will never pull away from His children. 

I felt my call into ministry when I was 15 years old, I have always gone to church and always known God in my life. It was in high school though that I really started having my own relationship with God. I started reading my Bible every night and was soaking everything I was reading like a sponge. I had a lot of other loves in high school but there was always one thing that never failed me and that was God. In college I started working at Camp Horizon, a Methodist church camp in my home town and I was finally able to put my hands and feet to work for God. It was here that I started to learn just what it meant to live a life in ministry. 

Growing up I had a really hard time with fake people. I don't have time for fakeness, you either are or aren't who you say you are. Now this has caused some people to view me as judgmental  stuck up, or better than others, but the truth is I'm just looking for honest people to have in my life. I have great respect for people of other faiths and belief systems that are true to who they say they are. 

DC talk says at the beginning of the song "What if I Stumble?" - "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today Is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips Then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."

My youth group is in the process of watching the movie "To Save a Life" and in this movie Jake has a hard time grabbing a hold of the Christian label because he is struggling to see real life examples of what that means to be.

Our theme as a youth group this year is Reflect, and this summer my word on my rock was Moon. It is all becoming clear to me that this is something laying heavy on my heart this year. I want to live a life where people see God in me always. I don't ever want to lead someone away from God and a chance of knowing Him better. 

I want my life to be the proof of His Love for us. I want my life to reflect God's love in the way that the moon reflects the sun.

For me as a youth pastor and a young single lady I have set certain standards for myself. Now those standards aren't necessarily God's standards for everyone's life but somewhere along the way it became apparent that this was where He wanted me to stand.

1.  Read the Bible everyday (I have been failing here lately but I'm getting back on that horse today)
2. No alcohol (I have plenty of friends who enjoy alcoholic beverages and I enjoy their company. In the Bible Paul talks throughout his letters about everything being ok to those who are strong, but shame on the person who dares to bring another person down.) I couldn't live with myself if my harmless drink caused someone else to sin. There are other reasons behind this too but this is the main one. So yes, I am 23 years old and I have never had any alcoholic beverage.
3. Purity - I am setting a pure example of a Christian woman and at the same time saving myself for the man that God has for me.
4. Health - This is a newer one for me that is just starting to be a part of who I am. I want to be healthy so I can do God's ministry better, longer, and more efficiently. That and I just have more confidence when I feel better about myself.
5. Live my life outside of the church as if the entire church is watching. Now that is not to say I'm paranoid or something, but I want the Darci people see on Sunday to be the same Darci that exists through and through. This is where the whole let my LIFE be the proof comes through. Not just my Sundays or Wednesdays or Office Hours but my entire life. 

This is part of my mission here on Earth. To be a genuine Christian through and through. Now being human I fail but God's Grace is sufficient for eternity, I just pray that God's people have grace to see that I, and everyone else, am an imperfect person seeking God's perfect love.

What does your life stand for? Are you willing to stand for something? Each of us reflects something, what are you choosing to show others?