I'M BACK!! And CRAZIER than ever!

I honestly miss writing this for fun, and can't believe how long it's been since I have last been on here! My "Pinterest" page has a lot of "pins" on it. All though most of it has to do with weddings, fashion, and Christmas-I do have a good chunk of "Christian Pins"-it's honestly a cool feature, where once in a blue moon, I see a post that someone has posted about a specific verse that they love to read. I saw someone's pin about the book of 2 Corinthians....so tonight, around 11:00pm I read though it...3 times. It was THAT good that I read though its words again and again. There were so many passages that I can't even begin to love on and rave about...but I figure I would do one passage per blog post. The first one that I want to talk about is in the 5th chapter.

                                "If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised again."

2 Corinthians 5:13-15 (NIV) 

For some reason, this passage just seems to reach right out of my Bible and grab my face...just sink this in for a minute. I italicized the parts that I seemed to grasp and bolded the entire thing because, well, it's awesome. I still can't believe this and I've read it more times than ever tonight. Now, I am in no means a Bible scholar, or philosopher, but I am a human, I am a young woman, and this is what this passage means to me:

• We should be CRAZY for God! We should live a crazy, out-of-our-mind life. My pastor had mentioned 2 weeks ago in his sermon that our relationship with God should be "...lively and in color" --> What the heck does that mean? Living in color with God means that we live risky lives..our relationship should be alive, and real. Living a life in black and white is not any fun..but when you have COLOR in your life-it describes something, and it brings it to life. Our relationship with The Father should come to life, and inspire everyone and anyone who you come in contact with. 
• If we are normal-we are doing something wrong! Being a lukewarm Christian (inspired by Francis Chan's " Crazy Love") we are lacking something important in our lives-the sense of being excited and alive for Christ. "....if we are in our right mind, it is for you..." "For you.." represents all the public who do not believe in the Heavenly Father or believe in the cross.
• Because Jesus died for us, we should live our life for Him. Being crazy...being nuts is a full-time job that God wants us to do. I don't mean literally being insane, but being crazy for God is just about the best thing you can do. People notice when you're not an average person. They notice when you are different then the rest of society. And I promise, they will notice when you are downright crazy for God. 

How can we be crazy for God? What does it look like? Does it mean that we go around neighborhoods with our shirts off shouting things at people? Probably not. Being crazy for God means that you're confident in His timing, His teaching, and His love. It means that we are excited for what God is doing in your life and in others. It means that we "color outside the lines" sometimes, and do rash and questionable things for His glory. It means that non-believers will question and notice that you are not 'normal'. Are you ready for that?

Personally, I think it sounds like the best ride you can take in your life. I'm ready to be crazy.

                   
(^ above picture from http://mindpetals.com/dont-be-scared-to-draw-outside-the-lines-no-boundaries/)

*Find Francis Chan's book here.