Assess and Believe
For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18
The beginning of the New Year is upon us. This gives us time to pause and reflect on all the things we are grateful for and set a course for the things we plan for in the months ahead. Many of us are good at preparing for it by setting lists of priorities, new plans, and resolutions. Others end up doing things just like it is another day in the life. This year, I plan to focus on a few key areas. One is continuing to work on my fitness and health, and another to build closer relationships with my children and grandchildren to provide guidance and support. This leads me to an obvious one to bring up. What am I doing about my faith?
As we think about our relationship with God, the word is very clear on what God expects of us: to grow spiritually. Paul’s message to Hebrews is liken to how I feel at times about my own journey. He said, “You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word.” (Hebrews 5:12) There are questions we should be asking ourselves on a continual basis. Are we as enthusiastic about God today as when we first became born again? Is our walk of faith following the path God would have us follow? Do we question God rightfully or are we just living based on ‘what feels right?’ They are not as simple of questions as they may seem, and many of them lead to additional questions. All of this means that like the year that unfolded, we should assess where we are in our faith and where we believe God is instructing us to go.
An amazing and growing relationship with Christ starts with asking Him questions. Looking at a blog the other day, it noted that the Bible is our food. While that fundamentally is true, I also believe that taking scripture in is not enough. The Bible is called ‘the living word’ because through us, it comes to life. Action is fundamental to our faith because without it, it does not live. Praying to God is an action, but if that is all we do, are we really impacting the world in the name of Christ? No. To use the blog in an analogy, taking the Bible as our food without action leads to our being unhealthy. We should spend a great deal of time both focusing on and pushing to be better disciples of Jesus regardless of whether we are still new in our faith or spent our whole lives in it. There is always something we can do better. Whether it is contribute or give more to a local church or cause, volunteer or make more time to help others, read or dive deeper into scripture on a continual basis, or even sharing God’s message to others more freely or boldly as I previously wrote last week, growing in our faith is essential for us to not only build a better relationship with God but also become better representatives of who God is in the world.
We should expect that being a follower of Jesus Christ is challenging. Yes, we will not always get it right or struggle in various areas of our lives to live as He would ask of us. But Jesus did not give His life for us to be perfect. Paul says, “let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1b-2) So let us focus not on perfection but instead on being better Christians that represent Jesus as He represents us before God. Where is an area of your faith that you can focus on in the new year? What prompting of God will you act on? My prayer is we continue our spiritual growth by both assessing and believing in the path Christ has laid before us. Amen and Happy New Year!