Matt's 1st Post

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.