Do we mean it?

Sometimes when friends of mine annoy me, I might tell them "I'm gonna kill you" or "I'm going to beat the snot out of you" or something along those lines. Obviously, I don't mean what I'm saying, it's just an expression. But what if everything was just an expression? We never actually did what we said we were going to do...what would the world look like then?

I want to believe that people are genuine in everything that they do, but as I examine myself and look at my own life, I see so many times when I didn't follow through, or I faked my way through something, I didn't give it my all, or I let someone down because of my own selfish desires. Do we mean what we say?

I'm posing that question, because most of the people who will read this post are Christians and I bet at some point in each of our lives we struggled with that awful "lukewarm" feeling. Going through the motions but never believing it or following through on a deeper level than just the surface. Are we the same person at church as we are on a Friday night? I know I'm not sometimes.

That's scary on a whole other level. The world holds Christians to certain standards and I'm not saying we have to focus on where the world views us, but how can we disciple to others if we aren't even genuine in our own lives.

This is where I'm at in my walk with God. I want to be that person that God has in store for me. I don't want to be a faker. I also want to believe that all of my friends and family want the same things for their own lives. I think it's huge to take a step back and analyze where each of us are at. Are we faking it? Do we really mean it as we lift our hands in worship or bow our heads to pray? I hope so, but sometimes, I just don't know.

To quote a song that so many of us know, "What do I stand for? What do I stand for, most nights I don't know anymore."

I know what I stand for. Maybe the issue is I don't know how to show it. Maybe I'm too nervous to show it. Maybe I need help showing it. But I want to mean it when I show it.

Do you?