Wow, it’s been a while. My summer has been incredibly busy but I’m thoroughly enjoying it. I’m not here to talk about myself though so let me share something I’ve felt burdened about for a large portion of the summer.
Thirty-something days ago I came to the conclusion that my relationship with God wasn’t where I wanted it. My relationship with Christ was not as strong as I wanted it to be and my relationship with sin was a little too flippant so I began my 30-day spiritual detox.
I cut out the questionable music, I started getting serious about how sin was affecting my relationship with Christ. Not that I wasn’t already spending time in God’s word, but I approached it in a different way.
That fifteen-twenty minutes every night was no normal amount of time those twenty minutes consisted of Me, my God, my hot tea, my laptop for notes, my iPad with YouVersion and my bible for reading the text. That fifteen or so minutes was a kid coming to grips with the fact that he needed God more than anything else.
I don’t say that to boast on myself because I missed days, I messed up, believe it or not, I sinned more times that I could count in those thirty days. BUT, I realized that I can’t play with my faith.
“Being a Christian is more than just instantaneous conversion, it is like a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ.” – Billy Graham
Proverbs 4:23-27 talks about boldness in faith – (23) Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. (24) Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. (25) Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.
(26)Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. (27) Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil. (NKJV)
I’ve written several blogs on focus, focusing on God, but this is different because this demands action. Regardless of how much I am focusing on God, without action, your faith is wasted. Focused on God is step 1 and that cannot be overlooked. However, while staying focused on God we need to be pursuing God.
Our relationship with Jesus Christ needs to be passionate, bold, intentional.
I read this verse the other night as I was wrapping up my thirty days and I wish I would have come across it earlier.
Psalms 27:8 – You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” (ESV)
I texted a friend of mine the verse and what I think this verse would look like in person. A child, broken, hopeless, without love, utterly dismayed at his future and the world around Him.
Then his father comes to bring hope, joy, love, compassion, and he says; almost pleading in the most sincere way – “My child, look at me, seek me, I can give you everything you lack and give you hope for eternity” and as the child looks up the father wipes the tears from the child’s eyes and picks him up to take him home.
That’s OUR God.
As I look around I dare say there are a lot of Christians that aren’t owning God. What do I mean by that?
Without thinking too deeply into it, I think some Christians today are piggybacking off of the faith of their parents, their grandparents, their pastor, siblings, etc. They see God doing miracles in the lives of their loved ones and friends.
However, they don’t see God showing up in many areas of their lives because they have yet to make God a major part of their lives.
If you own something, you take possession of it and it belongs to you. We need to take ownership of our faith. Our faith should move us. Our faith should help us pursue God better. What does owning your faith look like?
Please don’t take this as a to-do list or as a checklist but if you are being moved by your faith you are probably looking to be involved in church. You should definitely be in God’s word on a regular basis.
There’s no set time you need to be spending reading the bible, there’s no specific plan that would be better than another, but simply taking time to get to know your God better and learning how as a Christian we should be living.
Ephesians 4:22-23 – (22) throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. (23) Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.
Like Ephesians says as a Christian is moved by your faith you will continue to fail and sin as I did this last month but like verse twenty-three says – “renew your thoughts and attitudes” its a consistent and continual action of realigning yourself to who God wants you to be.
” Sin is comfortable, even pleasurable. Doing right is not easy, it’s going against the world and it’s incredibly difficult at times. This sounds crazy but I have asked God to grow me at all costs. Even if I have to step out of my comfort zone, I want to grow closer to Christ. ” Can that be said about me?
Am I seeking God?
Please don’t take this lightly, as a millennial I am seeing lots of Christians stand up for God, doing what is right and their own faith and I couldn’t be prouder. However, there are also just as many if not more Christians “dropping out”, and giving up on God. For whatever reason they may have, God is worth pursuing.
God is worth seeking with your whole heart.
Psalms 119:2 says – Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek HIM with their whole heart.
Whole Heart. Without Reserve.
God needs us to take a stand for Him. This world needs us to take a stand for God.
In a generation of transgenderism, homosexuality, mass abortion, and the glorification of sin in general, our generation needs to take a stand for doing right. We need to own our faith, and we need to cling to God.
Jesus Christ gave up His life as asked only one thing of us: that we use our lives to bring glory to him. We can’t do that if we don’t own our faith.
Last month was pride month for which much of the LGBTQ movement dedicated a month to being fearless in who they are. Last time I checked there is no pride month for Christians standing up for what they believe, what God stands for and what is right. We shouldn’t need a month, it should be 24/7/365.
Regardless, God has been doing some amazing things in my life, and I hope He’s been doing some amazing things in your life as well. But as I conclude, I would ask that you join me:
Join me in standing for what’s right. Join me in owning our faith. Join me in taking this Christian life seriously. Join me in taking pride in knowing the creator of the universe. Join me in using our lives to bring glory to Jesus Christ.
Proverbs 28:1 – The wicked flee when no one pursues, But the righteous are as bold as a lion. (NKJV)
thanks for reading,