On August 2nd, eighteen year old Kelsey Williams left the comforts of home to serve Christ in Africa (Jinja and Fort Portal, Uganda) for two weeks. This is an extraordinary commitment for anyone, let alone a young woman of her age. Kelsey boldly lives out her passion to serve Jesus. She was kind enough to answer some questions and allow me to share her answers with the readers of this blog.
Daily Life
Self-Discipline
You can’t be a disciple of Christ while maintaining the status quo. When we make the decision to recognize Jesus as Lord of our lives, everything changes. Or at least it should. Simply pretending to be a follower of Jesus is the same as not following at all. If we confess Him with our lips but do not demonstrate Him with our lives, then we are fooling ourselves if we think our eternity is secured. Jesus said that many will come to Him saying, “Lord, Lord”, but He will send them away because He never knew them (Matthew 7:15-23). If we want to avoid such a fate, we must live disciplined lives seeking Christ, while reflecting His love to others.
Culture Wars
It is virtually impossible to be a disciple of Jesus Christ without living a life of self-discipline. Following Jesus means our focus shifts from being self-focused to others-focused. While this sounds noble and good, it is ridiculously difficult to implement. Our culture has so indoctrinated us with the pursuit of things we “need” and “deserve” that it becomes extremely easy to rationalize spending our time and money on things of earth rather than Heaven. Even within the church there are those that preach that following Jesus leads to prosperity and good fortune. This is contrary to what the Bible teaches (2 Timothy 3:12; Luke 9:58); serving God is all about thinking less of ourselves and more of others.
Fully Alive
Who wouldn’t want to live fully alive? We all want to be the best version of ourselves that we could possibly be, to achieve all that we were created to do. God has equipped each of us with a unique blend of passions, talents, and gifts. The reason we have been so blessed to receive these things is so we might accomplish all He has purposed us to do. To not utilize our gifts, to shrink back from obstacles, or to turn away from what we fear results in living a life less than the one we are capable of living. None of us want to reach the end of our life knowing we could have done more. So how do we live life fully alive? I think there are three keys…
Do or Die
There comes a time in each of our lives when we must choose between self-preservation and simply doing what is right. We will choose to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of a friend or give up what we want in order to gain what we truly need. It is in these times that we learn what we really value. Are we who we say we are? Do we stand for what we say we believe? We are defined by our actions, not our words. When the time comes for you to act, what will you do?