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³We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. ⁴The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: ⁶Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
1 John 2:3-6

Let’s be PC! Not politically correct, and not users of non-Mac computers (although I advocate the latter). Let’s be Practicing Christians – not Christians in name only, but Christians who practice their faith in ever-increasing degrees. Welcome to the introduction in this series of blogs about increasing our obedience to Christ.

Several things have conspired to cause me to begin this new series. I suspect (well, actually I know) that God is behind the conspiracy! He’s behind it because He wants me to become more like Christ. Let me share the chain of events with you and see what you think:

1) About three weeks ago…

our pastor made a statement in his sermon that has not left me: “God wants so much more for us, but we settle for easy.” And he didn’t explicitly say it, but I also heard “we settle for comfortable.” My Christian walk has become quite comfortable. I’m not saying life is easy and without its challenges. No, I have the same kinds of challenges you probably do – work, finances, relationships and health, all to varying degrees at any point in time. Even so, I’m comfortable.

2) About two weeks ago…

I was listening to a taped testimony and Q&A session with someone who had been converted to Christianity from another religion. During the discussion, someone asked if everyone in his previous religion participated in a certain aspect of their faith. His response stopped me in my tracks. He said, “If they are practicing that faith they do. Some claim the faith but don’t practice it.” I began to wonder – in what areas am I not a “practicing Christian?” I claim the name “Christian” because I have trusted Christ as my personal Savior. But am I truly a practicing Christian, or am I one in name only?

3) Also about two weeks ago,…

our church decided to do a study some of the heroes of our faith on Wednesday nights. Anyone can teach on their favorite hero in upcoming weeks. So I began to read a bit about some of the great heroes of Christianity – men and women who lived in very different times and tenaciously held on to their faith in the midst of great conflict. Each of them suffered hardship and many experienced martyrdom. Each of them had a commitment to practicing their faith that goes far beyond mine.

4) About a week ago, I…

read part of a sermon titled “The Cost of Discipleship.” In it, the author put forth some pretty strong statements:

The mark of a great leader is the demands he makes upon his followers. The Italian freedom fighter Garibaldi offered his men only hunger and death to free Italy. Winston Churchill told the English people that he had nothing to offer them but “blood, sweat, toil, and tears” in their fight against the enemies of England. Jesus demanded that his followers carry a cross. A sign of death.…The demands that Jesus makes upon those who would follow him are extreme. Christianity is not a Sunday morning religion. It is a hungering after God to the point of death if need be. It shakes our foundations, topples our priorities, pits us against friend and family, and makes us strangers in this world. (www.sermons.com)

5) Late last week…

I saw that a Christian in one of the business forums I participate in was reading the book The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee. I have a passing knowledge of Nee, but have never read anything by him. The title grabbed me so I thought it’d be a great book to start as I headed off on vacation. Yesterday as we drove across the state of Pennsylvania, my husband read the first chapter to me.

What is the “normal Christian life?” We do well at the outset to ponder this question. The object of theses studies is to show that it is something very different from the life of the average Christian…The Apostle Paul gives us his own definition of the Christian life in Galatians 2:20. It is “no longer I, but Christ”. Here he is not stating something special or peculiar – a high level of Christianity. He is, we believe, presenting God’s normal for a Christian, which can be summarized in the words: I live no longer, but Christ lives His life in me.
The Normal Christian Life, Chapter 1, Watchman Nee,

6) This morning,…

following along with our Resting at the River’s Edge reading schedule, I read the following passage in 1 John:

³We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. ⁴The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: ⁶Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
1 John 2:3-6

Are you sensing God’s conspiracy in focusing my attention on this topic? The phrase that’s been going through my head is “Let’s Be PC!” Practicing Christians, that is. I don’t want to live such a watered down Christianity that those around me don’t recognize that there is something different about me – that there is a power within me that forgives me of my sins and enables me to live beyond myself. There is a cost to following Christ, and I am beginning to think I’ve only made the down payment. I don’t want to settle for less than He has for me because of my desire for comfort. I don’t want to have less of an impact on those around me because I so desperately want to be accepted by them or want to please them. I don’t want to be less than God wants me to be because I’ve allowed satan to distract me with the things of this world.

How about you? Are you ready to begin a journey of becoming PC?

My thoughts are that each week I’ll look at one of the commandments God has given us in His word and explore how it can/should be walked out in our lives. My hope is that I am challenged to step up my game – take my obedience to Christ to the next level. Are you in?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 15th, 2010 at 9:45 am and is filed under Christian Living, Obedience. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.