John 13:17 KJV
If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
If there is a portion of the Christian life that is the toughest, it is that faithful consistent growing in a relationship with Jesus Christ.
It is so easy for us to settle in to Christianity sort of like a man and woman might settle in to marriage; before the marriage and maybe in the first little bit of the marriage, there is of necessity the development of a relationship. You get to know what the other is like and you learn to deal with that, enjoying many things, and enduring some things. But then after a while some couples quit working on the relationship and just get on with life. Sometimes a married couple nearly ignores one another even though they live in the same home.
Christians can do that with their relationship with Jesus. At first, there is that time of getting to know the Lord.
You find out He died for your sins,
You learn enough of the Bible and of church life to figure out the big "do's and don'ts"But then if we are not careful we might settle into a sort of happy medium with the faith where we now know the things we enjoy about being a Christian and the things we must just endure.
So I say again that the tough part of the Christian life is maintaining that frame of mind where we constantly grow in our relationship with the Lord. And as we grow in that relationship, the Lord teaches us new things.
Then comes the second part of the Christian life, simply doing the things He has taught us.
The tough part of the Christian life is not doing what Jesus taught us. Jesus said we are happy if we do them. The tough part is the relationship.
So I can tell if my relationship with Christ is right or not, most often, just by asking myself if I am happy doing what I know He has taught. If I am not happy, the answer is not to change what I do, it is to seek a closer relationship with Jesus Christ.
If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
If there is a portion of the Christian life that is the toughest, it is that faithful consistent growing in a relationship with Jesus Christ.
It is so easy for us to settle in to Christianity sort of like a man and woman might settle in to marriage; before the marriage and maybe in the first little bit of the marriage, there is of necessity the development of a relationship. You get to know what the other is like and you learn to deal with that, enjoying many things, and enduring some things. But then after a while some couples quit working on the relationship and just get on with life. Sometimes a married couple nearly ignores one another even though they live in the same home.
Christians can do that with their relationship with Jesus. At first, there is that time of getting to know the Lord.
You find out He died for your sins,
You learn enough of the Bible and of church life to figure out the big "do's and don'ts"But then if we are not careful we might settle into a sort of happy medium with the faith where we now know the things we enjoy about being a Christian and the things we must just endure.
So I say again that the tough part of the Christian life is maintaining that frame of mind where we constantly grow in our relationship with the Lord. And as we grow in that relationship, the Lord teaches us new things.
Then comes the second part of the Christian life, simply doing the things He has taught us.
The tough part of the Christian life is not doing what Jesus taught us. Jesus said we are happy if we do them. The tough part is the relationship.
So I can tell if my relationship with Christ is right or not, most often, just by asking myself if I am happy doing what I know He has taught. If I am not happy, the answer is not to change what I do, it is to seek a closer relationship with Jesus Christ.
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