Jesus Christ is the Hope of the World

My church is doing a sermon series on platform. Platform is our message. It's how we come across on social media or in person. It tells others what's important to us. When I saw the teaser for the series, I thought, “I’m a Christian blogger, so I get a free pass on this one right?” But then, it occurred to me that platform isn’t something I can just check off and be done. Platform is something I do all the time. I have a platform everywhere I go.

I remember the first time I became acquainted with this term. I was at a writer’s conference this word felt like an annoying fly that kept landing on me. It popped up in every talk and every interaction. If I’m honest, I wanted to swat at it because I knew that building and cultivating that platform would be a lot of work. But then I thought about the privilege that a platform is -that there are people who actually care what I have to say. Why would I ever think of that as a burden?

I thought about this blog. I talk about a lot of things on here. I talk about the cute things my kids say and do. I share about the books I’m reading. I talk about my favorite things like holidays and musicals. But I want to make one thing clear. I write this blog so that you will know that Jesus Christ is the hope of the world. If I’m trying to encourage stay at home moms, hopefully they’ll be reminded that in their loneliness and exhaustion, Jesus Christ is the hope of the world. If I’m sharing about my struggles, hopefully it’s clear although life is hard, Jesus Christ is the hope of the world.

If you engage with this blog and you aren’t a Christian, thank you. Thank you for putting up with me each week even if you don’t necessarily believe what I do. I don’t take it lightly that you take time to read this. My prayer for you is that you will put aside everything that would keep you from this truth. Maybe you had a bad church experience. Maybe you have been hurt by Christians. Maybe you think we all just have an agenda. And all of that is true. But please, please don’t blame Jesus for everything we do. We mess things up. We sometimes fight for the wrong things. We disagree and make a mockery of our faith. But, if we’re doing what we’re called to with our platform, we should all have the same agenda -to let you know that Jesus Christ is the hope of the world.

I know that my writing this doesn’t give me a free pass. I’m not off the hook for platform because my kids will still be watching me every day. My friends will see how I process things. People I don’t know can be affected by how I use my platform. My prayer is that I won’t muddle this message. Because it’s the most important one I’ll ever deliver.

Blessings,

Shannon