Private VS Personal

Private and personal are interchanged by many of us. Whether you say “personal life” or “private life” people understand you. But private and personal can be very different. For example, let’s say you’re dating someone you’re embarrassed about. You just do things one on one. You don’t invite that person to any events. When you see them with friends around, you act like you’re not dating. That’s a very private relationship. A personal relationship, on the other hand, is when you’re dating someone who you truly admire and respect. You invite each other to events and don’t try to hide the relationship. This is the relationship God wants to have with each one of us.
If anyone should be embarrassed about our relationship with God, it’s God. But no matter how many times we ignore him, he’s still waiting for us patiently. When people read Matthew 6:5-6, people can interpret it to mean God doesn’t want us to share him publicly, but nothing could be farther from the truth. To keep the dating example, nobody wants to see you and you're date all over each other. That’s fake love, and it’s obvious. All that does is pushes friends away into acquaintances because all you were looking to do was gloat and show off your prize (side note, you’d be treating your date like an object rather than a person. Hate isn’t the opposite of love, using someone is #FutureArticle).
Don’t be scared to share your relationship with Christ. But if you are, that’s kind of awesome. How? You have prayer ammo for a long time. Just be like, “God, I’m scared of sharing our relationship with others because…” and fill in the blank. Look up the answers in scripture, ask your priest, your youth minister, your parents, a friend, etc. A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step…are you ready to take that first step?