The Christian way of life is different to the way non-Christians live. And Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
People who become Christians find that their life changes significantly, but often in unseen ways. At the same time, people raised in church can have a lot of religious ideas which are not part of Living Your Faith. Those ideas can get in the way.
So let me share with you some simple, foundational aspects of your life of faith.
Firstly the foundation of your Christian life is Faith in God and trusting Christ for forgiveness of your sins. Belief is at the core of Christianity.
In the early church days an evangelist named Phillip was directed by God to go to a remote place. While there he saw a chariot on the road and God prompted him to speak to the traveller. The man was a high official from Ethiopia who had been in Jerusalem to learn more about the Jewish religion. He was reading the Prophet Isaiah’s writings when Phillip approached him.
The man invited Phillip into the chariot, Phillip explained the good news about Christ dying for us and the official wanted to put his faith in Christ.
They came to a place where there was a pool of water and the official asked to be baptised, to confirm his choice to be a Christian. Phillip then asked the man to confirm his mind, to confess his faith in Christ. What the man ‘believed’ was the key to his salvation.
“Philip said, If you believe with all your heart, you may be baptised. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” Acts 8:37
Jesus confirmed belief as the core of our new life.
“They asked, What must we do to work the works of God? Jesus told them, This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” John 6:28,29
The Apostle John also spoke to this core matter of believing.
“This is God’s commandment: that we should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and we should love one another just as He commanded us.” 1John 3:23
You are a Christian because you believe Jesus is the Son of God who came from heaven to take on a human body, live sinlessly and then die to pay for your sins. You believe that Jesus rose from the dead, as the Bible explains, and has defeated sin, death and the devil for you. When you put your faith in Christ, asking Him to forgive your sins, you are forgiven and adopted into God’s family.
So Secondly, Christianity is Relationship with God and Jesus. Faith is the basis or starting point of your Christian life, and your lifestyle is then your expression of that faith impacting all you do and think.
Your faith in Christ brings you into a powerful connection with God, as God’s child. The original connection God had with Adam at the beginning is restored, and even improved on. So God now relates to you and you can confidently come into God’s presence and enjoy His blessings.
That relationship is a dynamic and living experience, which grows as you spend time with God, read God’s Word, pray, praise God, fellowship with Christians, attend church, experience God prompting you in various ways, enjoy the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life and experience God changing you on the inside.
Some Christians hardly grow at all in their walk with God. Others press in to be as connected to God and as responsive to God as they can.
In Bible times people were recognised to be at different levels of their spiritual journey.
“Everyone who lives on milk is still a baby, inexperienced in the message of righteousness.” Hebrews 5:13
“Then we will no longer be infants” Ephesians 4:14
“I write to you children … I write to you fathers …. I write to you young men” 1John 2:12,13
Your faith and your relationship with God are such huge elements of your Christian life that adding other things might give a wrong impression. If you concentrate only on those things, growing in faith and in your relationship with God, you will be in a wonderful place.
So Thirdly, Christianity is Growing in Grace and becoming more like Christ.
“Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” 2Peter 3:18
We do this out of our faith in God and our relationship with God. Grace is a matter of divine favour, not of correctly positioning ourselves religiously to some place where we force some divine experience to open up. God’s blessings are those of a loving father to His beloved child. God’s correction and discipline is that of a loving father to His beloved child. God’s wisdom and direction is that of a loving father to His beloved child.
So the best way to grow in grace is to grow in our relationship with God. Obviously understanding what God thinks and wants is part of that. Learning to identify when God is prompting you is also part of that. Being humble, dying to your selfish lusts, learning to live for God and others, loving others, helping to build God’s Kingdom and removing bad things from your life are all elements of your Growing in Grace.
Fourthly, in support of you Growing in Grace, is to Access all God has for you. That means to believe God’s word, read it and treasure it. That means to be filled with the Holy Spirit and receive the many gifts, fruit and benefits of the Holy Spirit in your life. That means learning to stand in faith against the enemy, claiming God’s blessings and overcoming evil. That means aligning with the will of God in the wider arena of your life, so you and God work together for His purposes. That means finding God’s truth and the work of the Holy Spirit to set you free from sin, habits, failure, curses, enemy strategies and the like, so you live in ever increasing freedom and power. That means learning to avoid the traps, temptations, snares, lies and fiery darts of the enemy, keeping yourself from evil things so you are not dirtied by them.
Many Christians might like to add to this list their favourite religious things, duties, practices and so on. My expectation is that if people live out the things I have listed here then God and the Holy Spirit will direct them to live out those other details, such as witness and service of God, appropriate behaviour, effective forms of worship and so on.
Friends, reflect on what I have presented here and make progress at each level. Then keep doing the same, as you learn to let God be your personal Father and the guide of your living relationship with Him. As you do that you will be Living Your Faith.
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