Raise your hand if you're guilty of purchasing overpriced home decor with beautiful scripture calligraphy.
Raise your hand if you've ever had a phone background that was an aesthetically pleasing quote. Raise both hands if it was by Morgan Harper Nichols.
Raise your hand if you're guilty of sending a thoughtful text to a friend who's struggling, assuring them that you'll pray for them. Now raise both hands if you never got around to actually praying for them.
Okay, now I am just calling myself out. Guilty, guilty as charged...
Here is the problem, while uplifting and artsy quotes can be fun and all, they shouldn't be what defines our relationship with Jesus. We have got to stop living life as though reciting mantras will solve all our problems, even if those mantras are based on biblical truth. Biblical truth is important to deeply understand, and memorizing scripture is an incredible weapon to equip ourselves with. However, it means nothing if we are not letting it change our hearts at their core, and challenge the way we walk through this broken world.
Jesus didn’t live and die for us to do nothing but hang encouraging quotes on bedroom walls and put bible verses in our Instagram bios.
Bible verses can't just be used as bandaids. They don't do their job if they just sit on the surface of our lives. They have to be consumed, believed, and fully understood in a way that changes our hearts. It is one thing to know the Truth, but it's another thing to really let it wash over you.
The Christian life is hard and God never promised us He would solve all our problems, but He does promise us that when we truly seek to know Him personally, He will provide us with a joy that surpasses all understanding.
So keep buying your cute home decor, rock your wallpaper background, and text your friends when their struggling. But if you tell someone you're going to pray for them, do it. And next time you look at that sign telling you to "do the hard and holy things", remember to listen.
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