Live Like No One Else

Dave Ramsey is famous for talking about how, financially, we need to live like no one else now, so that later, we can live like no one else. It's a great concept, but it shouldn't stop at your finances. As Christians, we are commanded to live, not as the world lives, but as new creations in Christ.

While one of our goals this year is to pay off the Project House (a huge goal), another (more important) goal is to live differently so that people will see Christ at work in our lives. It's not about garnering praise or showing off, it's about pointing people back to the God who is able to change the hearts of those who seek Him.

I want 2013 to be the year that people see less of me - the ugly, selfish, petty me - and more of the hand of God in my life. I want to be a clean vessel, a mirror that will reflect the Lord's glory, rather than my own vanity and pride.

Over the last two months, it seems that God is asking us to do something that is completely contrary to our natural selfish tendencies, and, I'll be honest, it scares us. And yet, we also believe that if this is of the Lord, He will continue to make it clear, and He will equip us to handle whatever comes our way, just as He has before when we've followed His leading into the unknown.

In the past, God has used the difficult circumstances of life to bend us to His will, and teach us that He has our best interests at heart, if only we will stop talking long enough to listen. I believe that 2013 will be another year of those kinds of lessons, and while I'm knee-knocking scared at times, I'm also excited to see how God will use them to transform us and reflect His glory.

How will YOU reflect the Lord's glory in 2013?