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Right now I want you to stop and ask yourself, “What kind of Christian am I?” In my mind there are only two answers to that question so figuring out where you stand should be really easy. Let me break them down for you here:
Type 1 is the group I like to call the Talkers. They say all the right words and never miss church. They always look nice at church and really friendly, almost too friendly. The fun part is when you take them out of the Church and suddenly you have a Mr. or Miss. Hyde on your hands. They completely flip the script on you and flow with the rest of the world. Between the hours of 10 and 12 on Sunday they live for God, the rest of the time God is put on a shelf.
Type 2 is what I call the Universal Believers. It doesn’t matter when or where you find them, but as soon as you walk up you can tell you are in the presence of a rabid believer. These people are the embodiment of the Fruits of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23) no matter where you find them or what is going on. Now this group is a little harder to judge, due to the fact that one cannot tell what is going on in the mind of every person. I know people who can smile to your face and be pokin’ you in the eye within the confines of their mind. I know because I use to be one of them.
Of all the sins or places to sin in, the mind, without a doubt is the hardest to get control over. Being born as sinners we are naturally inclined to do the wrong thing. If you don’t believe me, then watch a toddler running around getting mad, pulling hair and telling you they didn’t break the vase that they just ran into with their head. Getting control of your mind is the hardest but also the most critical, because the mind can influence everything else that you do, say, or think. If this where you struggle here is an idea of what you can do:
- Identify that this is your problem and realize that you must change it. Without this step all the others are useless and will mean nothing to you.
- Make up your mind that this is not the way you want to live and know that it is definitely not what Jesus laid down his life so that you can do.
- Pray, pray and pray some more. This can actually go anywhere on this list and should be done all the time without ceasing
- 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 (NLT) 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
- Think, I know this may seem obvious but if you take the time to think and really consider what you are doing then yoy may be quite surprised with what you did without giving it much thought. This can include cursing, listening to raunchy music, looking lustfully at women (or men, women sin too)
- Romans 12:1-2 (NLT) 1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
- Get yourself an Accountability Partner. This is a member of the same sex, or your spouse, that you can confide in and they in you, what the problems are and ask for help in them. Most people I know who have them, including myself, find themselves closer to God and farther from sin, which is the whole idea anyway.
- Pray some more and dive into the Word, the more you read, the more God can reveal to you and show you scriptures to help with day-to-day life.
Somewhere in there you should also go to someone in authority in your church, or a church if you aren’t a member of one yet, and seek guidance, because there is a good chance that they have some pearl of wisdom that God has given them to help their flock (you). Also you should consider your life and how the world influences you, say what you will but watching the wrong shows on TV, listening to the wrong music, having the wrong kind of friends, and doing the wrong things do not help you at all in your walk with Christ and 10 times out of 10 do serious harm to it. You can also look into Christian literature for something to help you with. I have noticed that no matter what the problem or influence, there is a Christian answer to it, whether in Christian music, books, TV, or even radio, there is always an alternative out there that is pleasing to the Man upstairs.
Tomorrow I will touch more on the media today and how you can find better alternatives to it all.
Good job! When you wrote “I know people who can smile to your face and be pokin’ you in the eye within the confines of their mind. I know because I use to be one of them.” This is so true, and the sad part is as a Christian we can so easily revert back to our old self if we are not careful! Sherry my wife is a great Accountability Partner for me as she is so much grounded in the Word, than I. Also can you get the spam thing a bit larger? I am old and had a hard time reading it!:)
MC
I found that music has a huge impact on the way that I think.
Five years ago I couldn’t stand to listen to Contemporary Christian Music, but I decided that I needed to go find some. I discovered a couple of artists that I enjoyed, and listening to them, I developed an appreciation for other Christian artists.
It transformed my life.
Great advice.
I have an accountability partner we meet at lunch every friday for the past 5 years now and its a great encouragement!
oh and Jennifer Knapp in your cd collection is a must!
I personally dig Holy Hip Hop too.
Fantastic post! I totally agree. Our minds are in constant motion and we have to continually renew them and realign them with what pleases God. When we fail to do so we fail to live up to who we really are and not what we have become.
Keep up the great work. I can’t wait to read the next post on media.
Chaz
Great post! We should talk about all those types of christians on the forum and figure out which group we fit into