To The Girl in My Class

I hope you know above anything else that there are Christians out there lying to you. They are telling you how to live your life. To stop this, quit that, buy this, and don't watch that. These Christians hop on their high horse and demand you live the life that God "intended" for you to live. This may look as easy as quitting smoking and being nicer to people. This life they sell you also might involve going to church with them on Sunday, and saving face after that insane Saturday night you just had. You'd have to break it off with that boy, cause he's bad news, and listen to only Christian music so that your head is filled with songs about love and hope rather than Miley's version of pop. This life seems so dry to you because that's not who you are, you do what you want when you want. The craziest thing you would ever do is leave your life of fun to dress in skirts and wake up early on Sundays. It all just seems like too much work.

All you should know is this is a lie, this is yet another lifestyle people are trying to sell you so that you begin to look like them. You begin to live by their right, because they're Christians and they have it all together. 

This isn't it, that's not the point of Christianity. We weren't called to look a certain way or to dress a certain way, that doesn't make us faithful, it makes us religious. Don't get sold by the lie that your identity is in what you do or what you don't do; get sold by the power of redemption, this alone will become your identity. The battle isn't between right and wrong, the point of Christianity isn't to live a better, more wholesome life: it's to live a life filled with awestruck wonder at the cost that was paid for on the cross. Christ lived your identity for you, He abandoned himself so that you don't have to worry about your image or judgments made about you. There is hope to be found in sacrificing you so that you strive to look like Him, rather than yourself.

Let your guard down, let your insecurities, transgressions, and that boy that hasn't been treating you right vanish in the power of redemption. Let the love that can be found in Christ be what determines your next move. Don't buy into the lie that you were born a certain way, or that your past is whats keeping you from moving forward. 

I hope you find strength in someone other than yourself, someone thats lived your sins, someone that has always loved you unconditionally, and someone thats waiting for you. He will fill your life with so much more joy than the boy that's using you. You are worth so much more than what this life has to offer.

This is coming from someone who attempts to live his life with these truths everyday. This is coming from someone who hurts on the daily, and struggles to live knowing that Christ is where he should find his all. I fail so miserably doing this, and I hope you don't ever see me as the image of hypocrisy. We all go through dark wells, and we will always question ourselves and what we believe in. We are rotten to the core, attempting to make sense of our identity through crazy beliefs in the unknown and personalities sold to us on the television. 

Take a fall into something bigger than you and never be afraid to turn to Christ. Living a life in awe of what He has done for you will become your new identity. This identity will no longer be yours, but His…  and there is so much freedom in that. It won't matter what you do or don't do, because once you seek His grace your desire to follow Him will push you to live the life you were actually created to live.