One of the greatest potential places of impact the modern Christian can have is in the modeling of their own behavior.
In an era of cultural disarray and "Christianity" being a great deal of what seems to suit the practitioner, the practice of the biblically based Christian can truly stand out as unique and novel. A note here: when I say "biblically based" I mean "the teachings of God and Christ as in the Bible"; worth noting because too often we fall one side of the full teaching or the other.
The real difficulty is in practicing what we preach - or in this case, teach. In this, I often miss the mark.
For me, at least at this point in my life, the mark is not so much external behavior (although that is still a problem from time to time); it is mostly internal. Those sections in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 where Christ points to the internal practices instead of the external - hate of our brother in our heart, lust in our mind - speak out to me more and more. And since the internal influences the external, it in fact does make a great deal of difference in my practices.
Or Galatians 5, where Paul talks about the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self control - you can find those in any modern non-religious text today about how to be a better person. How good am I at practicing those (Looking at you, self control).
People have said it far more eloquently than I, but we are in an era where just by being a Christian by practicing Christ-likeness, we can be a witness without words. Would that I was better at this.
When I was much younger, I heard a story. An old Indian was asked about his faith. How are you so different? You actually live out your faith. He said, "In me there are two wolves fighting. One is black, the other is white. The one I feed the most wins." I understood that to mean the fleshly me or the redeemed me were the wolves. If I continued to live the best I know how, I'd fail as a Christian. If I spent time like the believers in Acts 2:42 (spending time studying the Bible, hanging out with older, wiser Christians, and praying together and alone) I'd grow in my faith. I'd become the man God intended me to be.
ReplyDeleteI'm working on a study that explains the 100 or so things that happen when you are saved (protestant definition of saved). The old man is crucified, but our flesh lives on. We have a new nature that battles old fleshly desires. If we give in to the flesh, it grows stronger. If we submit to the Holy Spirit's work in us, our new nature grows stronger. We will exhibit the fruit of the Spirit when He is unquenched and allowed to work through us. Basically, you are Jesus Christ in His TB form, ministering God's grace in your sphere of influence.
"I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me."
Thanks, STxAR.
DeleteI will be honest that one of the things that has helped me immensely in the regard to is some level of ascetic practices. The main one is really quite small: Wednesdays and Fridays I follow an Orthodox fasting schedule, abstaining from meat, dairy, and eggs. I also making a sincere attempt to abstain from sugar most of the time (no one is perfect, after all). Fasting was recommended in the Bible of course, but also shows up in The Sayings of The Desert Fathers quite frequently.
Even that simple action has given me great self control - by doing that, it has at least made me aware of all the other places that I am giving into myself (read "The Flesh"). To use your words, by submitting to the Holy Spirit's work - fasting, in this case - my Christlike nature has grown stronger.