Christian Living...

Today, I finally completed my prelim examinations, well, its true that its such a relief but somehow I didn’t really feel too much joy in finishing my exams, nonetheless I’m glad that I can take a break away from my studies for just a short while. Anw, after the exams today, I had to wait from abt 10:45am till 12pm for my mum to send me home. Therefore, since I had the luxury of time, seriously how could I continue to study after having just completed my prelims, but I had no one to be with, no one to celebrate with and nothing else to do. So first, I tried playing games on my hand phone but was still bored, I tried to read stuff but still no use. However, I decided to search for something in my bag to keep me occupied, and my Daily Bread happened to fall out, so I decided to spend time reading the Lord’s word. And, since today was the 26th of August, I tried to find the message for the day, and without realising I actually turned to the August 29th message instead, thinking I was reading the message for the 26th…so happily I read the message for the 29th of August, it was entitled Don’t Rust Out. It was about how a car that was left buried while it was brand new and when it was unearth 50 years later it was beyond repair. It was about how spiritual inactivity corrodes the soul. Paul in the Bible urged Timothy to “ pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness”(1 Tim 6:11). And it mentioned that the spiritual disciplines require continued attention throughout our lives and if rest becomes our goal then rust is right behind. And it states that we must work hard to keep in trim for God. Finally, it says that pursuing the righteous life to which God has called us should never end.

1 Timothy 6:11:

But you, O man of God,
Flee these things and pursue righteousness,
godliness, faith, love,
patience, gentleness.

This message really spoke to me, in that, really to be honest, I haven’t been working at the spiritual disciplines that much, well, not enough. And, in that I mean, praising the Lord, praying to God, worshipping the Lord, reading the Bible, going to Church and going for Bible class, these are all the things that make up the spiritual disciplines. And, of course, just to mention, what makes a Christian is not the things that the person does like going to church or reading the Bible, but what truly makes a Christian is having faith in God and trusting Him as Lord and saviour. Again, of course, as Christian, we desire to go to church and do these things because we love the Lord and He loved us first and died on the cross for our sins. Furthermore, it feeds our faith when we do these things. Now, anyway, my lack of involvement in the spiritual disciplines enough has many a times led to a drifting apart from God and it drained that passion and joy for God and well, affected my faith. And, I guess, it makes one complacent and we forget that we truly need God and need Him to trust in through life. God is truly the one that gives us strength, help us love, grow and shine for Him, displaying Christ-likeness. So yea, that made it a whole lot easier to stumble and fall and really it just leads spiritual decay and as the passage in the daily bread stated, we’ll become rusty. That was relevant to me in that, this week through all my struggles I was praying that God would truly help me to desire to be righteous, godly, faithful, loving, patient and gentle. And, God seemed to be reminding me that truly I should pursue these things. He seemed also to be telling me that I was on the right track seeking to be more Christ-like, and it was like God telling me that He had heard my pray that I may desire these things. Also, it made me realise that to do so I needed to really be more active in doing the spiritual disciplines and it had to truly be my desire to do these things since I truly desire the closeness with God. So the main message is truly that we need to truly fill ourselves everyday with the things of God, so that we may maintain a close relationship with God, so that we may truly live for Him and we will therefore not lose touch with ourselves and the person we should truly be for the Lord. This well in essence lets us truly live out in faith and love the true Christian life that is though not based on the spiritual disciplines but the heart and our faith, a live lived filling ourselves with the things of God as a result of our love for God.

Other things I read in the daily bread also were about this issue and is taken from Romans 6:15-18 , in that, as believers in Christ we have salvation which actually means a change of bondage, and that we are now committed to lives of righteousness because of the freedom Jesus provides. It means we are free from the bondage of sin and would not continue to sin against the Lord as our old selves did. Therefore, we desire and do only what is right and glorifying to God and although we are never perfect and still sin from time to time, we do not dwell in it but instead seek God's forgiveness and cleansing and plunge into God's mercy that awaits at the end of confessed sin and we experince the joy of God's mercy. God give us a chance and everyday molds us into a person that is ever more christ-like. But, most importantly, we must desire to pursue righteous and godliness.

So, truly Lord, I believe you and Lord you are my Lord and saviour and everyday I live for you and you alone and trust in you. I love you Lord and treasure my relationship with you for nothing else matters more, Lord pls help me to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and gentleness, by living out the spiritual disciplines everyday of my life out of my passion and desire for you oh Lord. So that, I will not lose touch with you and the true Christian life, and I may truly be a shinning light for you and people will see how great you are through the way I live my life. Amen.