Relevance - Revealed

I was just listening to this cd, and realized that so many of the things I'm dealing with right now are conveniently and accurately expressed within its songs. This is an excerpt from one of these songs. Check out How Can We Be Silent by BarlowGirl.

"Keep Quiet"   - BarlowGirl -

All the things I've sacrificed, so that I could bring You to this world. I want them to see You in me. But Your name just keeps them far from me. So I'll keep quiet. Let's hope they see I'm different.

Jesus, Jesus, why is Your name so offensive? Why are we so scared to tell this world You've saved us? When all of the hope of the world is in Your name, why are we so scared to say "Jesus"?

If I avoid to speak Your name, tell me would You do the same to me? If relevance becomes my goal, will I lose You to its hold?

I'm sorry I cared about my name more than Yours. I'm so sorry. How could I hide You anymore...
But if I keep quiet - They'll never see I'm different...

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In dealing with our relevance in this world, and in whatever ministry we're called to, we must be sure to keep our focus on Jesus, the source of our strength. We can be doing so many things for God that we forget about doing them with God. It is so easy to get caught up in the busyness we feel obligated to manage, that we can lose touch with Him. Our relationship with Jesus must be paramount in our lives. He must always be front and center in our focus. He must always have the best seat in the house of our hearts. But not just in our hearts. He must have total control of our entire lives. Surrendering that control is the hardest part, as we are perfectly flawed with the in-born desire to control the world around us, and especially in us. In order to achieve all the great things God has promised us, or called us to, we have to surrender everything in our being to His perfect will. Only in this surrender we will ever find any semblance of control over these things. I know this doesn't make sense by the world's thinking, but we are not of this world. Our minds are being transformed and renewed through our relationship with Jesus Christ. In order for us to live in this transformation, to have the 'mind of Christ,' we have to have a serious relationship with Him. Our relationship with Christ must be the only thing we could never go without, because, in reality, it is the only thing that is truly relevant. All our other relationships, our families, our careers, ministries, whatever. Everything else is irrelevant in the light of Christ. I'm not saying these things are unimportant, because God has richly blessed us with these people, opportunities, and things. But He is a jealous God. He will not settle for second place. He wants us to live a life relevant, to make a difference for Him in this world; to share the love that He has so graciously poured out on us... This is a big challenge, but thankfully we are not left to our own strength in this. God has promised to never leave or forsake us. If He has given us a mission, He will walk us through it. All He wants from us is a willing heart, submitted to His will, which is the essence of His love. God will get His work done with or without us. But He has called us out by name. It's pretty obvious that He wants to do this with us. His love draws us to Him. He just wants us to love Him in return, with everything we are. He wants us to LIVE LOVE.