So you’re a Christian. Congratulations! I am firmly convinced that it is the greatest life that we could ever live and that above all men we are most blessed (Eph. 1:3). But I don’t really have to tell you that. That is, no doubt, part of what convinced you to become a Christian in the first place. But for all of our heavy emphasis on what it takes to become a Christian sometimes we (and by we I include myself) don’t always do as good of a job in adequately helping current Christians develop into true disciples. We equate that moment of gospel obedience as our point of success and we quickly move on to our next prospect. But there is so much we need to be teaching current Christians to prepare them for their new lives. “What?” you ask. These are just a few:
- Love your Bible. Far too often the Bible transitions from being an important document to being an interior decoration. We use it to get what we need to become Christians but then it is gradually pushed to the side. That likely happens for many different reasons but one might be because we never fully accept what the Bible is – God’s communication with man. It is the greatest love story ever told. It is the story of how God’s love manifested itself to man by Divine sacrifice. But included in that love story is a blueprint for how we need to live our lives and develop as children of God. Unless we develop a deep and active love for our Bibles, though, we will never read it, study it, learn it, or accept it (2 Tim. 2:15).
- Leave any bad influences behind. Part of living a new life sometimes requires that we rid ourselves of old friends. No, that doesn’t have to be the case. Some friends, even if they’re not Christians, don’t pose a threat to our new faith. But for our own spiritual well-being, we’ve got to be honest with ourselves. Some people who have previously been mainstays in our lives are going to make it extremely difficult to be Christians. They won’t understand our new commitment and what that commitment means to our decisions from this point on. They won’t understand why we won’t do things, say things, or go places that we used to. They will try to pressure the new us to be the old us. Unless we are willing to put those types of relationships behind us we are not fit for the kingdom (Luke 14:26).
- Learn to forgive yourself. I have always been of the belief that guilt is a two-sided coin. It is good in that feeling guilt often keeps us from making past mistakes again. But on the other side is the reality that guilt weighs us down, hold us back, and keep us unmotivated enough to keep from reaching our full potential. As Christians we have got to remember that God has forgiven us of our past sins and as we walk in the light He continues to forgive us (1 John 1:7). Let’s not be easier on ourselves than God is, but let’s not be harder than Him either. Forgiveness empowers us to be who we need to be.
- Look to see what you can do. So often because of humility, discomfort, inexperience, etc. we convince ourselves of everything we cannot do to the neglect of everything that we can do. In 1 Cor. 12 Paul talked about the reality that like the body has many different parts who each contribute to the overall working of that body that the church has many members who serve in the same capacity. We each have different abilities that contribute to the overall working of the church. Those abilities are going to differ from person to person but we all have some talent or resource that can benefit God’s cause. We just have to examine ourselves to see what it is.
- Look forward to heaven. To the Christian eternity is not something to dread. I understand and perhaps in some ways share the fear of death simply because of the circumstances that surround it. But eternity itself is something to anticipate. Paul expressed that anticipation in 2 Tim. 4:6-8, particularly in the idea of loving the appearing of Jesus. That is the second coming. How many in this world can honestly say they look forward to the judgment? But not only should we personally look forward to heaven, we ought to act like it too. The people around us we are trying to reach are influenced by our impression. If we impress on them hesitancy or uncertainty in ourselves then we have no authority to influence others. But if people see our hope then that gives us more authority in giving them the reason for that hope (1 Pet. 3:15).
The assumption so often is that Christianity is a religion about feeling. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to discredit the feelings that accompany faith. But Christianity is also a religion about doing (Eph. 2:10; Jam. 2). And while these aren’t everything, these are at least five things that every Christian needs to do.
What other suggestions would you add to this list?
-Andy Brewer
I think this is a great list. One thing I would add is that we have to be aware of the other things that are in our life that we think are important and make sure they are second to serving God. Matt 6:33 says “But seek ye first the kingdom of God…”. Sometimes I think Christians are really good at putting the Kingdom in their Top 5 – but actually putting it solely first can be a challenge. Putting the Kingdom ahead of Family, Work, and recreation can be hard – but that tells us where our heart is at – and how much we really trust God. If there is anything in our life that we will not remove or limit to serve God – then Seeking the Kingdom is not first in our lives.
I like your point about Looking forward to Heaven. I think that is a great test of our faith. So many times Christians will say – “Yes, I want to go to Heaven, but not yet”. Outside of missing opportunities to teach others that may be lost – I can’t really think of a reason we would want to delay being with God – and getting off this sin filled planet. Great post and Great Blog – thanks for spending the time to do this each week.
Thank you so much for your article! I think you had a lot of insightful suggestions to things that we can do to be better Christians. Unfortunately, what holds a lot of us back is the unwillingness to personally change, for one reason or another, and we all probably have at least a couple things that we struggle with. I definitely agree that as we implement your suggestions in our lives, we will come to be better Christians, and help others on their way as well. Here is a link for a really good article about loving God, which I believe ties in really well to what you were talking about, and I think that you and your readers will enjoy it, it comes from a website with a lot of uplifting Christian messages that I would highly recommend. http://goo.gl/a8IPhz