In our last class, we listened to an interview with Dallas Willard. In the interview Mr. Willard spoke about how there is a lost connection between salvation and character. Many self-called Christians today may believe that there is a God out there, but are un-willing to "play the role" of a true Christian. Many of these "Christians" believe that by just believing that there is a God, that they are assured a place in the Kingdom of Heaven. Here lies the difference between effort and earning. First a person must earn their way by first believing in God. But, by just believing and not actually putting all of your faith in God, how can one tell if they are actually growing in Christ? To me, the answer is fairly simple, you can't! To actually grow and become a disciple of Christ, you have to not only believe, but also put the effort into it by dedicating your life to Him by listening to God, following Him, spreading His word, and doing His work.
In our group, we also talked about how we knew, as Christians, where we stood in our faith. Some of the answers we came up with were: By how easy (or not so easy) it is to do what God asks of us, how we were at the point where we felt that we would follow God no matter what, and how we found ourselves becoming more and more involved with our churches.
Looking at these questions made me pause for a second and truly think where I stood in my faith, and how I am growing in Christ.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Isaiah's Post - Number One
Marks of Growing in Christ:
The question before us was: how do we know we are growing in Christ? After some discussions we came up with a certain list of general traits which we see in ourselves and our mentors that mark growing in Christ.
The first is a deepening desire to be like Christ. However it looks, it is the ever-increasing internal drive to be like Christ. The second trait, which follows logically, is Christ-like character. This does not mean perfect. Rather this means the shaping of our personalities to contain mercy, humility, endurance and overall a passion for reconciliation. We mean by passion for reconciliation the great want to see all people to be at peace with God and with each other, to the point where we both weep when it does not occur and rejoice when it does.
Beyond that inner character we talked about external signs. For example conversations become increasingly centred around Christ. Another example is our consciousness become aware of social issues. Thirdly we distance ourselves from more obvious sins, those things which are obviously wrong (murder, robbery etc). And finally our thoughts become clear, we experience that transformed mind that we read about in Romans 12:2.
Because of all these things, particularly clarity in thought, we are able to read the scriptures with fresh eyes. Histories, prophecies, psalms, proverbs, gospels and epistles seem more understandable, less boring (which, as teenagers, we sometimes feel if we are honest) and applicable to life situation. We can find ourselves in ministry positions and suddenly understand something that Jesus says or Paul advises.
I personally have one disappointment in the process: time. We, if my memory serves me right, only had fifteen minutes to discuss. The topic was so huge we needed more time.
The question before us was: how do we know we are growing in Christ? After some discussions we came up with a certain list of general traits which we see in ourselves and our mentors that mark growing in Christ.
The first is a deepening desire to be like Christ. However it looks, it is the ever-increasing internal drive to be like Christ. The second trait, which follows logically, is Christ-like character. This does not mean perfect. Rather this means the shaping of our personalities to contain mercy, humility, endurance and overall a passion for reconciliation. We mean by passion for reconciliation the great want to see all people to be at peace with God and with each other, to the point where we both weep when it does not occur and rejoice when it does.
Beyond that inner character we talked about external signs. For example conversations become increasingly centred around Christ. Another example is our consciousness become aware of social issues. Thirdly we distance ourselves from more obvious sins, those things which are obviously wrong (murder, robbery etc). And finally our thoughts become clear, we experience that transformed mind that we read about in Romans 12:2.
Because of all these things, particularly clarity in thought, we are able to read the scriptures with fresh eyes. Histories, prophecies, psalms, proverbs, gospels and epistles seem more understandable, less boring (which, as teenagers, we sometimes feel if we are honest) and applicable to life situation. We can find ourselves in ministry positions and suddenly understand something that Jesus says or Paul advises.
I personally have one disappointment in the process: time. We, if my memory serves me right, only had fifteen minutes to discuss. The topic was so huge we needed more time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)