Living as a Christian, is it a spectator sport, or a contact sport?
The other night in bible study we were talking about a lot of things and as we got onto the Topic of God working in our lives I made the statement that I think that being a Christian is like being in a full contact sport. This raised some eyebrows. And I don't think my explanation helped any either. Here's my thing though I do believe that being a Christian is something that we must do actively. And not as a spectator. Or just letting things and life pass us by.
Yes I know what I believe to be the facts of salvation. We must believe in Jesus and in the fact that He is the son of God. That's the big one. There's a few other things we must do that I don't want to focus on here today. What I want to talk about is the fact that I believe we must ACT and not just BE a Christian. What do I mean?
Well the first thing we must do is what? I already said it..... BELIEVE folks that is an ACTION! Be BAPTIZED, again an action. And one of the biggest Matthew 28:19-20 the "Great commission"
Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
By my count that's no less then four action items that we are commanded to do. There are so many other action items we are to do as Christians. I feel that many times we just sit back and don't respond or take the steps we need to. Many times because it affects how we feel, scared, embarrassed or what ever. Look I am not pointing fingers... Well maybe one. Because I am guilty of this my self. It is much easier to sit back and let someone else do it or to not get involved. I usually end up kicking myself later when I let that happen. Because I know better.
At bible study a lot of our talk centered around prayer and with that I feel the same. I DO believe in miracles, and I DO believe that God will act when we can't and do things with out us even intervening. But I also believe that The Lord wants us to be active and not sit back. That when we pray not only must we BELIEVE (action) but in some cases we must do. Tis do action might be as simple as opening our hearts to the answer. Or placing our trust and faith in him that he is in fact faithful to us and he does want us to succeed and not fail.
I do believe that many times we must DO something to help with these prayers. Whether it is opening our hearts or taking action. God will open the doors we must decide to walk through them. Sometimes we pray for things we know needs to be changed but maybe we don't want or are not sure that WE want to be the change. Sometimes we need to be that change.
I don't know as I reread this maybe I am not explaining my self any better than I tried to the other day. Oh well the point I am trying to make is that we need to be DOers of the word and not just listeners. (humm isn't that an action from the book of James?)
So go out there and don't just wait but do as we have been commanded to do.
