My Life for Your Fame

Sometimes, it's difficult to understand what Christians are called to do in today's age.  Being outspoken about our beliefs is often difficult.  Giving God the glory for our lives sometimes feels impossible because of the backlash we suspect will come from our social circles.  It's taken me quite some time (21 1/2 years!) to embrace this role. 


In January, I traveled to Atlanta, Georgia for Passion 2012.  It was a full four days of speakers, praise and worship music, and small groups.  Over the week, I shared in uplifting to God prayers for those entrapped in various forms of modern day slavery.  We praised God for our own blessings.  It was a beautiful week!

This is the group I went with!

While I've always loved praise and worship music, mostly thanks to my time with Faith Lutheran's many different ministries, the songs I felt drawn to were songs thanking God for saving me.  Songs like White Flag where we call on ourselves to surrender "all to You."    Or Lay Me Down where we declared "I lay me down, I'm not alone.  I belong to you alone."

These songs are important reminders that we are nothing without God's grace.  Christ is the one who has saved us from our own sinful humanity.  It wasn't until more recently that I began to notice that I was comfortable talking about this reality when I knew the group would be receptive to what I was saying.

Over the past couple months, I've noticed a shortcoming in my own faith.  In my moments of public joy, I failed to praise God with the same fervency when nonbelievers were present.  It was hard to be open about my reliance on a Savior when I feared the scorn of the "enlightened" minds of my professors, administration, and peers. 

Over the weekend, we had a Passion 2012 night at Faith.  They played the music that was key in my own spiritual transformation this year.  There was one line in Chris Tomlin's song No Turning Back that stuck with me for almost a whole week now:  "My life for Your fame."

"I'm not ashamed of the one who saved my soul,"  Kristian Stanfill sang in Not Ashamed.  The words hit me like bricks.  Here, I talked about how God has blessed me profusely, but I was worried about sharing it with other people.  I want to be like St. Paul in the letter to the Ephesians.  He didn't pray for deliverance from captivity, but that he would have the strength to continue sharing the Good News.

This realization is a new experience in my life.  I'm not usually shy about anything.  The change has been a gradual shift.  I've slowly become more open about my faith-journey in the past few months, sharing deep emotions with friends at my own church. However, sharing with my friends isn't enough.  Anything I become in my life will be by the grace of God.  From now on, I will give Him the glory and live my life for His fame.

Next time you see me, I might just be singing one of these Passion 2012 songs, praising God and not being ashamed. 


"Let what we do in here fill the streets out there.  Let us dance for You.  Let us dance for You."