This morning my heart is wrecked for the number of people who are hurting in the world that we live in. I’m moved because people are hurting and as followers of Jesus, we have THE Answer. Let’s face it, the day we live in is not the same as when our grandparents were young adults or young marrieds. People are going through some major junk today! There are things that people are dealing with that were not even on the radar back in their day, but as His church we have a responsibility to bring healing to the hurting, love to the discouraged, and hope to the hopeless. After all, we are the church, and we have the loving, life-giving message of Jesus.

I’m amazed at all of the negative press that followers of Christ are getting today. (Now, I know that negative news travels so much more easily than good news and that there ARE amazing things happening in and through the Big “C” church.) However, I also think that part of the problem today is that some followers of Jesus have raised their voices and have become loud for the wrong reasons. I would never encourage anyone to lay aside their convictions, but if the message of your convictions is shouting louder than your message of Christ’s love then there is a major problem.

After all Jesus said that HE would be the one to build His church, and His Holy Spirit would be the perfect Counselor that would guide people into all truth. Our responsibility as His followers is to, “Love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength – and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.”

So we need to get LOUD about that!

Naturally, many of us are fixers. As Judah Smith mentioned in his book, “Life Is _____” if someone cuts in line at Christmas time at the checkout at Toy’s R US, many of us want to call them out for what they have done wrong. BUT in the end, people’s greatest need isn’t correction, it’s Christ who brings about the change in our lives that we need.

Again, this isn’t aimed at any specific storyline, ministry, or leader today, but just a reminder to my friends and fellow followers of Jesus to get loud for the right reason. Be known for WHO you are for and not for WHAT you are against. Let’s bring the Gospel back into the spotlight and give Jesus center stage, not the issues. Let’s make some noise by the way we love one another. If we do – John says in his gospel, “Then they will know that you are Jesus’ disciples.”