Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
During my freshman year at college I joined a fraternity. I joined Lambda Chi Alpha because it was the best party frat on campus. It lived up to its reputation and by the end of my first year I ended up on academic probation. Two weeks later I placed my faith in Jesus Christ. That summer I started the process of growing in my new-found faith. As the summer came to a close I remembered that I was moving into the frat house in a few weeks. The thought sent a cold tingle up my spine. One Christian in the midst of 24 party animals - I didn't have a chance of survival. This was almost the equivalent of Daniel going into the lion's den. What was I going to do? What I did was to make a big mistake.
I decided to save my life and my reputation. I didn't want to be known as a Jesus freak and I didn't really know what to say. So I went back to the fraternity as a silent witness for Jesus. After 6 weeks of not getting high or engaging in the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night parties, the brothers started to become a bit nervous. Rumor was I had become a NARC.
Finally they cornered me in the living room of the house and demanded that I tell them what had happened to me. The Lord graciously allowed me the opportunity to share with them for several hours the change Jesus had made in my life.
The mistake I made was a common one but you can learn from it. I was trying to save my life. The gospel tells me I must do just the opposite; I must lose it.
When the Scripture says, "I have been crucified with Christ" it means we have already died. We are dead men on furlough. Here in the USA our fear is not physical death but a social one. We are afraid of rejection.
The only way to overcome that fear is by love. We must believe that people's souls are in grave danger. They desperately need to hear the message we have. And because we love these people we will risk everything to tell them the truth. Love is the only motivation strong enough to overcome fear.
So learn the lesson of one foolish freshman. There is great freedom when we lose our lives for the gospel. When we lose our lives we will actually find that we gain great freedom. Share the love of God boldly and freely with people today. You have nothing to lose.
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