What does truly living for God require?
I once had a checklist that I thought was the secret to becoming the person God wanted me to be:
... pray
... read my Bible
... go to church at least once a week
All of these things are good and very necessary. But these actions should be the means and not the end to spending time with God. I can't just do these, check God off my to do list, and then rush to face my day hoping that somehow I'll now be a better person.
These things should usher my heart into a place of expectation. When I pray, read my Bible, hear a sermon at church, I should leave from doing these things with eyes wide open looking to experience God personally. Knowledge is good but experiencing application of that knowledge creates life change... in both me and those I encounter.
And I certainly can't get tripped up with the lie Satan uses to hold too many of us back in our walk with God, "I'm not perfect enough to really expect to experience God."
Being a Christian can’t be about being perfect. Perfection is an impossible stance that makes hypocrites of us and skeptics of the watching world. Being a Christian that wants more than just a plastic religion to hang a piece of their identity upon will involve a shift from trying to be perfect to becoming perfectly surrendered to Jesus and the pursuit to simply follow Him.
Isn’t it interesting that those were Jesus’ words to invite people into an understanding of what living for God requires? Over and over Jesus simply said, “follow me.”
Matthew 4:19"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."
Matthew 9:9 "As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him."
Matthew 10:38 “and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”
Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
Mark 1:20 “Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.”
Mark 2:14 “As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.”
Mark 8:34 “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
John 8:12 “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
John 10:27 “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
John 12:26 “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”
Is it overkill to see in black and white Jesus saying follow me all throughout the Gospels? I don’t think so. These verses have been in front of most of us our entire Christian existence and yet for too many of us their powerful simplicity has escaped seeping deep into our hearts.
Jesus says this is the beginning to the kind of life He wants for us. This is the very thing that will give our lives meaning and lead us to our purpose. This is what will usher us past having Biblical knowledge into having experiences with God Himself. After we spend time reading God's word, praying, and listening to a sermon, we should get up and ask ourselves, "So what? Now what?"
So what?--- Why is it important that I know this right now?
Now what?--- How can I personally apply this to my life so that it makes a difference in how I think and act?
In taking it that one step further... we can then follow Jesus not by just having knowledge about Him but by personally getting to know Him.
For the more we follow Jesus the more we get to know Him. The more we know Him, the more we love Him. The more we love Him the more we want to obey Him. The more we obey Him, the more we experience life with Him and through Him. The more we experience Jesus in our every day lives, the more we become a beacon of light to lead others to follow Him. And so the cycle goes. And the world is changed. Just like Jesus asked us to do...
God, may it be so everyday of our lives.
I once had a checklist that I thought was the secret to becoming the person God wanted me to be:
... pray
... read my Bible
... go to church at least once a week
All of these things are good and very necessary. But these actions should be the means and not the end to spending time with God. I can't just do these, check God off my to do list, and then rush to face my day hoping that somehow I'll now be a better person.
These things should usher my heart into a place of expectation. When I pray, read my Bible, hear a sermon at church, I should leave from doing these things with eyes wide open looking to experience God personally. Knowledge is good but experiencing application of that knowledge creates life change... in both me and those I encounter.
And I certainly can't get tripped up with the lie Satan uses to hold too many of us back in our walk with God, "I'm not perfect enough to really expect to experience God."
Being a Christian can’t be about being perfect. Perfection is an impossible stance that makes hypocrites of us and skeptics of the watching world. Being a Christian that wants more than just a plastic religion to hang a piece of their identity upon will involve a shift from trying to be perfect to becoming perfectly surrendered to Jesus and the pursuit to simply follow Him.
Isn’t it interesting that those were Jesus’ words to invite people into an understanding of what living for God requires? Over and over Jesus simply said, “follow me.”
Matthew 4:19"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."
Matthew 9:9 "As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him."
Matthew 10:38 “and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”
Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
Mark 1:20 “Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.”
Mark 2:14 “As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.”
Mark 8:34 “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
John 8:12 “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
John 10:27 “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
John 12:26 “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”
Is it overkill to see in black and white Jesus saying follow me all throughout the Gospels? I don’t think so. These verses have been in front of most of us our entire Christian existence and yet for too many of us their powerful simplicity has escaped seeping deep into our hearts.
Jesus says this is the beginning to the kind of life He wants for us. This is the very thing that will give our lives meaning and lead us to our purpose. This is what will usher us past having Biblical knowledge into having experiences with God Himself. After we spend time reading God's word, praying, and listening to a sermon, we should get up and ask ourselves, "So what? Now what?"
So what?--- Why is it important that I know this right now?
Now what?--- How can I personally apply this to my life so that it makes a difference in how I think and act?
In taking it that one step further... we can then follow Jesus not by just having knowledge about Him but by personally getting to know Him.
For the more we follow Jesus the more we get to know Him. The more we know Him, the more we love Him. The more we love Him the more we want to obey Him. The more we obey Him, the more we experience life with Him and through Him. The more we experience Jesus in our every day lives, the more we become a beacon of light to lead others to follow Him. And so the cycle goes. And the world is changed. Just like Jesus asked us to do...
God, may it be so everyday of our lives.
Home