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How to be a “Good” Christian

Sometimes it can feel like our Christian lives are a struggle. It can be hard to love those around us. Hard to keep a positive outlook on life, there can be so much negativity, killing and just evil in the world.

A Good Christian

Society tells us that we have to be a “good” Christian. What exactly does that mean? It means that we can pray at church, but not in a public setting where there is a chance that we might offend someone. Being a “good” Christian means that we must compartmentalize our faith. It is for Sundays and some holidays, but not for our families, work places, or communities.

A Bad Christian

Society also tells us that being a “bad” Christian is  to hate everyone that doesn’t agree with you. That disagreeing with one person or group means that you hate them. We’ve gotten to the point that we can’t disagree with each other. It doesn’t have to lead to anything, it’s just disagreeing. Everyone around us tells us that being a Christian means that we should love everyone and what they do. Whether or not it is harmful to themselves, their families, or communities, we should love them and accept what they do.

Looking at the world and going by what they tell us it means to be a good or a bad Christian leads us to a watered down version of our Christian faith. One where we are pleasing everyone around us except for the one that truly matters: God.

Pleasing God

Being a “good” Christian should be based solely on this one thing. Pleasing God. Jesus said it this way:

John 8:29(KJV)
29 And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.

We’ve put so much focus on pleasing and accepting everyone and everything around us that we can lose sight of pleasing God. That should be our measuring stick for being a “good” Christian. Are we pleasing God?

Prayer

There is a way to know whether or not our lives are pleasing to God. Ask. Prayer at its core is us communicating or talking to God. So for this reason it is ok to ask God if I’m leading a life that is pleasing to Him. Spending time in prayer shouldn’t just be a time where we pour out all of our pains, troubles and problems, but it should be a time of expressing our love, appreciation and joy in God.

Is my life pleasing to God? I want it to be, and I think that is where it starts. There should be something deep in us that wants to please God. Let’s lead lives that are pleasing to God, not pleasing to this group or that group, but pleasing to God and Him only.

Thankfulness: A New Set of Eyes

Wheel of Life

How thankful are we for the opportunities that lay before us? There are times in our lives where it can seem like we are running a race that is never ending. We become the hamster on the wheel of life, running and running never going anywhere.

This shouldn’t be the way that we live our lives. We shouldn’t settle for this type of life. What we do and who we are should matter to us. However, the question then becomes, how do we break out of the hamster wheel?

Big Jet!

I’ve recently come back from a vacation with my family. For my son, Leonard Joshua (LJ), this was a first trip on an airplane for him. We had flown before when he was a baby, but this was the fir
st time where he was excited about seeing an airplane up close and riding on one. As we got to our gate
and he could look out of the window, you could see the excitement growing in him. He was so excited that he yelled “There’s an Airplane! Look mommy, daddy, Big Jet!” Side note, Big Jet is a character from Little Einstein’s, his favorite show.

It was in this moment that I was thankful for this experience. I treasured being able to be a part of a moment in his life that was so special. At that moment, it didn’t matter what we paid for the airline tickets, the other people around, or the sleep I didn’t get trying to make sure we made it on time. The only thing that mattered was to be in the moment.

Thankfulness creates Opportunities 

Our thankfulness helps to create our opportunities. It is when we have a thankful attitude and heart that our eyes can be opened to see the opportunities in front of us. Otherwise we may miss something truly special. We may miss the very thing that we’ve been praying about for so long.

In the world around us there is a distinct lack of thankfulness. It’s an anomaly to hold the door open for people to go in a restaurant or store ahead of you. It’s not common to go to an interview and tell the interviewer “thank you for the opportunity” after the interview. While these may be little things, it’s how we act in little things that determines how we see, act, and receive the bigger things in life.

Self Centered or Selfless

So much of everything around us makes it easier for us to be self-centered rather than thankful. Thankfulness is an attitude, choosing to be selfless rather than selfish. Instead of thinking that we deserve something, we should be thankful that we have an opportunity.

Today and every day we have a choice. Let’s choose to be thankful. It will change the world around us and we’ll see more opportunities to do what God has called us to do.

Praying through the Hard Times

Prayer, praying, God

Everything is Going Wrong

Sometimes things look like they are not changing. We’ve tried everything that we can think of to do. Self help books didn’t do anything for the situation, the advice we got from our family and friends didn’t help, and when we prayed to God it felt like we were talking to a wall. How can we overcome and push through these life situations? Does prayer really work? Does God hear me?

What Speaks Louder?

When we are going through a tough time, we can ask what we should do, and inevitably someone will tell us that we should pray about it. The problem that we have is that praying can seem like it isn’t working because we don’t see anything change right away. Not seeing that change right away can dampen our spirits. The problem will still be there and it can feel like it’s screaming at us and that we need to do something about it.

Prayer Works

Prayer works because it speaks to our trust in God. It is us giving that problem to God and allowing Him to instruct us on what to do. While the problem may want our attention or there may be a deadline looming, prayer allows us to take our time.

The Struggle 

It is the in between time that we struggle with. We’ve prayed about it and now we’re trying to wait to hear what God wants us to do. A day can go by, a week, maybe even a month, where we can question if God heard us.

The first step we have to make is Be confident that God does hear us.

1 John 5:14 (KJV)
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

Trust God

Knowing that God hears us allows us to then trust that He will do something about it. We pray because many situations that we find ourselves in require a strength and a peace greater than what we can muster.

Praying keeps our mind on God and not on the problem or the situation in front of us. Our prayers don’t have to be some super deep, super spiritual act, but more of a conversation between two people. It can be something like:
“Lord, I’m struggling with this situation. I ask for your guidiance and that my heart be open to hear from you. I’m giving this completely to you and trusting you to handle it. In Jesus Name, Amen.”

How has prayer helped you get through tough times? Leave a comment below and tell your story.