not afraid to love

just read the psalms and came across this verse:

"be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!"

that's from psalm 31, verse 24. for some reason, i winced when reading that. i had this feeling of failure. that i worry so much about what people think of me. i worry so much about rejection sometimes that i shy away from the Gospel. i hide the good news because i fear what people will brand me as. my heart doesn't take courage. i become a coward lots of times. i don't acknowledge the one i love. it's like not admitting i have a girlfriend when she's right there. that's how it feels! and in another sense, i'm unloving to the people i don't share the Gospel with!

then i thought to myself. "i'm doing this out of my own strength again!" i shouldn't be focusing so much on what people think of me! i shouldn't be so fixated on my weakness! but i should be holding onto His strength in me. His love in me! when i think about that, sharing about God becomes easy! it's not a chore or another task to do. it becomes about sharing life and love with someone else. it doesn't become a condescending sermon. but it becomes a conversation about what God is doing in my life, how He loves me, and how He wants to have a relationship with the other person as well! =]

my heart takes courage in the fact that He is with me always. it takes courage in the fact that i'm not sharing about a religion, but a relationship. i'm not sharing about a bunch of rules, but about a life of decisions motivated and driven by love. i'm not just sharing the Gospel. i'm sharing the story of love and redemption and restoration. i'm simply loving people when i do this. and i am not afraid to love. =]