Foundation of living a Christian life
In today's thursday blog we will be looking at the key foundational beliefs of living a Christian life. To live as a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ, is not something to be taken lightly in this day and age. Therefore, before we even look at the foundation of what it means to live as a Christian, I want to urge you to take a moment and understand that when you and I claim to be Christian we are claiming to live as ambassadors of Jesus Christ as stated in 2 Corinthians 5:20 by Paul. So before we dive into this very important and weighty topic let us take a minute and ask ourselves: am I truly representing Christ through my words, actions and thoughts in my workplace, place of education and even my own home?
Freedom in Christ
One of the key and most emphasised foundational beliefs of living as a Christian is walking in your God- given freedom. For example in Romans 8:1 it says ‘there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus”. Clearly, this shows that as you walk in your God- given freedom, condemnation cannot co-exist with the freedom you have. However, what you will experience as a growing Christian is conviction. Condemnation and conviction are very different: condemnation is when Satan calls you by your sin but conviction is God calling you out of your sin. Also, many tend to forget the second part of this very verse which goes on to say “for those who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit”. This means the freedom extended to you and I is the freedom to do what the Spirit of God, which is in you and I through the salvation that was offered by Jesus and accepted by us, says e.g bearing fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5). The world may see this as no freedom at all but the truth is because God is loving and all- knowing he shields us from experiencing the catastrophic effects of walking freely according to the flesh, which is what the world promotes freedom as. We know this can lead to the fruits of the flesh as described in Galatians 5. To fully walk in the freedom Christ has offered us we must be willing to surrender all of our thoughts, desires and dreams so he can align them with His will and word. One thing we must remind ourselves when living as a Christian is to never forget where Jesus saved us from. The realisation of where you were saved from will help you overcome the urge to return to it. What I am trying to say is understand the bondage of sin that Satan had imprisoned you in so that you can confidently walk in the freedom God has given you as his beloved child.
Walk in God's grace
God ‘s grace has been given to everyone- everyone on this planet has been personally reached out to by God so we could receive this beautiful gift that is grace. Grace is
UNMERITED and UNDESERVED favour; this is Jesus himself. You and I cannot and will not be able to be worthy of God's favour which is why we accept his grace as a means to our salvation. The sooner we comprehend this the sooner we will start loving our enemies, loving those who we find unlovable, helping others in their Christian journey when they fall. So we live, walk and grow as Christians, who are not saved by their own good works but by grace. Yet this grace will inevitably enable us to do good works as the grace encourages us to be more like Christ. What this grace is not is an excuse nor license for you and I to sin but rather the empowerment we need to keep holy and stop sinning (Romans 6:14). Although we are Christians, sometimes, we still feels as though we have something to prove to God and blindly try to earn the salvation we've already been given and already received; so let this serve as a reminder to you that you have nothing to “prove” to God, yourself or the world. Good works therefore aren’t a way of earning salvation but are confirmation and a display of your salvation. Grace can reveal itself through many ways : unmerited forgiveness, unmerited love, unmerited patience and so on. If we look at the parable in Matthew 18 we see the servant who begged for mercy and so the king cancelled his debt. Note that the servant didn’t deserve the grace shown to him by the King ; he was in a lot of debt but because of the gracious nature of the King the servant was pardoned. In exactly the same way you and I were pardoned of our debt of sin by our King and High Priest Jesus. Yet the same man who was forgiven did not show the same forgiveness to his fellow servant – this is like when we as Christians have accepted God's grace yet refuse to show the same grace Jesus showed us to others who seem ‘undeserving' despite the fact we were also undeserving of Jesus' grace. So in this Christian life let us always show grace to everyone no matter what they have done.
Righteousness and Holiness
As you receive your salvation you become righteous not because of your works but because of your faith in the work of the cross and resurrection of Jesus (Romans 6:4). Now holiness is the exercise of the righteousness you have been granted. Holiness means to be set apart from the world and to be consecrated to the service of God. Living a Christian life requires you to leave all that pulls you to your old way of life including ungodly friends, ungodly habits and ungodly language. For instance, God told Abraham to leave all that he knew: his idolatry, his hometown and his family. Holiness will require you to leave the sin you may be comfortable with or in habit of doing as sin is incompatible with God's holy nature. The bare truth is that to walk in holiness and righteousness we need to be able to overcome sin. Thankfully, we have a Lord who defeated sin, the grave and death on the cross, so our only part is living in this glorious victory. This can sometimes be undeniably hard to do by yourself as it demands a might and power beyond we have, which is why God has given us His Holy Spirit as an advocate, encourager and adviser. Not only that but he has also bestowed us with the gift of fellowship too – which is exactly what Youth.N.A is about!
Prayer
Lord, I pray that you give my brothers and sisters the realisation that they can't do this Christian life without your grace. Help them realise that this grace you have given them is the key to walk in the freedom you payed for. May their relationship with you abound as they gain an understanding of your loving and holy nature. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.