Can you hear me now?

Okay, one thing I have never been accused of is being quiet. I have a voice that carries and the more excited I get, the louder I get. This is not always a blessing and I'm sure to those around me it would be considered a curse. I definitely "live life out loud".

For a while, there was a commercial for a phone company that used the phrase, "Can you hear me now," as their catch phrase. It really caught on and you hear this said in just about every area of life. Today I was thinking about how it relates to my spiritual walk. I often tell my students that anyone can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk....actions speak louder than words. My deeds shout out while my words drone on.

Any teacher can relate to trying to hear what someone is saying while the rest of the class just gets LOUD. It's almost impossible to hear above the din. As Christians, I think perhaps we're trying to share Jesus with the world and we can hardly be heard above the noise of everything else around us. The answer is to use something that speaks louder than words....actions.

1 Peter 2:10 - 12 (Message Bible) says: But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.
11-12Friends, this world is not your home, so don't make yourselves cozy in it. Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they'll be won over to God's side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.

What do my actions speak? Do they match my words? Am I living a life that people can hear? I want to approach each day as another opportunity to show Christ to the world. I'm trying to be heard above the din of the world, and sometimes my own selfish actions. It's time to make sure the Good News can be heard by living a life that shouts out of His goodness, mercy and grace. So the question I ask myself today is, "Can they hear me now?" If not, then it's time to crank it up a notch so that all may hear and come to Him. What will my actions say today?