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Are You Serious About Being A Christian?
Are you serious about BEING a Christian' Sometimes I see people who profess to being Christian but I don't see Christian fruit developing in their lives. I know that the Bible teaches us that we are not to judge others, and I certainly don't mean it in that respect. However, the Bible also teaches us that if we are a Christian, if we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within us, then specific fruits (fruits of the Spirit) will be evident in our lives. (See Galatians 5:22 and Ephesians 5:9) If we don't see the evidence of these fruits, then we wonder if the person is serious about his/her Christian walk. I would like to share with you four Scriptures which I feel will help you and I to be more serious about being a Christian. There are many lessons which can be drawn from these four Scriptures. It is my prayer that this lesson will give you strength to carry on in your daily Christian walk. "And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15) This is one of my favorite verses because I feel that Christians have to choose daily whom they will serve. The real meat of the verse is, "choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. . . But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." The society in which we live has so many areas that try to keep us from serving the Lord. For the Christian today, all too often it is a daily choice as to whom we will serve. I am not speaking of salvation here. Hopefully for you that has already been taken care of. I am speaking of serving God. So what does that mean' It means giving 100% of your life to Christ and let Him control it. It means not letting your job, money, friends, family, pleasure seeking, social status, etc. get in the way of your serving God. It means forsaking any and all of those things mentioned above if it interferes with your relationship with God. It means letting Christian ideals guide your relationships with your boss, family, friends, business dealings, etc. And it means that when we are confronted with a decision, our first reaction is asking ourselves (or fellow Christians) "What would Jesus have me do in this situation'"
Serving God is really having Him in the forefront of our minds at all times. Always being conscience of our thoughts, words and actions to make certain that they are consistent with the teachings of Christ and the New Testament writers. It is doing the Christian thing, even if it hurts!
It is striving to be like Christ in every aspect of our lives. After we have committed our lives to Christ and strive to really serve Him, what next. Jesus tells us in the book of Matthew, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." (Matthew 6:33) How can we serve God without seeking Him' It is really impossible to serve Him without seeking Him. So, if you are trying to "serve" Him and not "seek" Him you will fail. The very act of serving Him means you must seek Him. How do we seek God' First, we must throw off the phoniness of playing Christian. Making an appearance at church once a week is not seeking God. It is much, much more than that. Seeking God means that we have a very active Bible Study program. Not just attending Sunday School and going through the lesson. Having a plan to studying the Bible. Seeking out good quality Bible study aids and literature to help us in our study. Develop a plan to read through the Bible in a year. But even then you are not through. Study various topics, events, eras, books, miracles, prophecies, etc. No matter how old one gets, they should never stop studying the Bible. We must also seek God through a daily prayer time. Pick a particular time of the day in which you can be alone with God. Tell Him in an honest straightforward manner your prayer concerns, what your worried about, troubles you may be having, people you want to pray for, and so forth. And don't forget to praise God in your prayers. Tell Him how much you love Him. Thank Him for all the blessings you have received and for the answered prayers. Praise Him and glorify Him in your prayers. We need to be faithful to worship services. Not just when you feel like attending. We should have an attitude that we will be in worship service unless it is practically impossible to be there. Unless you have a serious illness that should be about 95% of the time. And in conjunction with that we should be faithful to the Lord's Supper each Lord's Day. If you have been successful in serving (I mean really serving) the Lord and if you have been successful in seeking (I mean really seeking) God then the next subject is really a foregone conclusion: "Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us'' Then I said, 'Here am I! Send me.'" (Isaiah 6:8) If we truly love God and serve Him and seek Him, we not only want to be able to spread the good news, we look for ways and opportunities to spread the good news. How can one be a Christian and not ever tell others about what He has done for them' In reality, they can't! If they are not telling others what Christ has done for them and meant to them, then they should really begin to question the validity of their conversion. How can we do this' Share Christ with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Help give them the strength to carry on and "fight the good fight." Share this and other literature with them, and help them to see the need in their lives to be more faithful. Host Bible study ......
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