Being Christian is a challenge, a challenge for everyone. Considering my circumstance, it should be easy. After all, I was brought up in a loving church-going family with plenty of food on the table. I was expected to be ‘a nice people and do things for others,’ something I’m pretty good at, something I can surrender to, that is, on my own time and conditions. But that doesn’t make me a Christian.
When our kids were growing up we were active in the Unitarian church, where people were nice and where opportunities to do things for others abounded. But that wasn’t enough for me. I wanted a God church, no, not wanted but needed a God church. Being nice on the outside, but critical, envious, judgmental, superior, angry, you name it, on the inside was gnawing at me. If it were just a question of trying, I’d be perfect. I knew I needed help. I returned to my roots, the United Church of Christ.
Being Christian is a challenge. To follow Jesus means being a servant not a master: it means seeing the Christ in others, which means everyone; it means putting others before myself. Being a Christian means turning my world upside down and living it in from a Christ perspective; it means giving up my motives and surrendering to God’s.
Being a Christian is a life challenge. The Bible is no easy self-help book. It takes complete surrender to God, living for God not for self. It takes prayer and willingness to open the door to the Holy. I want to believe that I’m in control of that door, but no, God is the door opener, Jesus the gate keeper. I have to be willing to see the opening and then go through.
When our kids were growing up we were active in the Unitarian church, where people were nice and where opportunities to do things for others abounded. But that wasn’t enough for me. I wanted a God church, no, not wanted but needed a God church. Being nice on the outside, but critical, envious, judgmental, superior, angry, you name it, on the inside was gnawing at me. If it were just a question of trying, I’d be perfect. I knew I needed help. I returned to my roots, the United Church of Christ.
Being Christian is a challenge. To follow Jesus means being a servant not a master: it means seeing the Christ in others, which means everyone; it means putting others before myself. Being a Christian means turning my world upside down and living it in from a Christ perspective; it means giving up my motives and surrendering to God’s.
Being a Christian is a life challenge. The Bible is no easy self-help book. It takes complete surrender to God, living for God not for self. It takes prayer and willingness to open the door to the Holy. I want to believe that I’m in control of that door, but no, God is the door opener, Jesus the gate keeper. I have to be willing to see the opening and then go through.
RSS Feed