Dear Bruce, I’m a new Christian…what now?

3. July 2009 by BruceSmith.

Dear Bruce,

I am new to faith, excited about my new life in Christ, and eager to live the life God has for me.  I wonder, however, what is it I am aiming for?  What is the Christian life supposed to look like, feel like, be like?  Some Christians I know live lives that look no different than people I know who never go to Church, and some seem to have it all together.  I want the life God has for me, and I realize for the first time in my life that the life of pleasure and self I have been living is actually empty, self-defeating, and completely me centered.  This new life is one I am thankful for and thrilled to be living.  Just looking for a little direction now that I am on this journey.  Where do I go from here?

Thanks.

Great question, love the attitude and desire.  First, let me remind you that the Christian life is not about climbing some moral ladder to God.  All of us are so far removed from His standard of excellence and perfection, even people like Billy Graham and Mother Theresa, that we have no hope.  Only through Christ’s death on the cross, God’s grace, are we able to have a relationship with God and be in proper standing before Him.

Now, with that clear, here are a few more clues which I hope will help you.  First off, the Christian life is about a true inward change.  The bible says that when we come honestly to God and ask Him to take over our lives we become new creatures.  The bible literally says, “The old is gone, and behold all things have become new.”  This means that if a soul has indeed been changed and been found in relationship with God, new things happen.  It is very much like the transformation of a catapilar into a butterfly.  Once, the being was a ground crawling or tree crawling creature with little ability other than to sting and hurt others.  Once transformed, however, that dangerous creature becomes a work of flight and art which gives beauty to its surroundings.  The transformation could not be more dramatic.  

This is the case with a life transformed by God.  You are new.  Your desires are new, the old desires are passing, have passed away.  For the Christian, the change is from darkness to light.  Darkness, characterized by selfish pursuits, envy, lying, sexual promiscuity, anger, rage, drunkenness, deceit, adultery, murder, apathy, laziness, wild living, and a slew of more “mundane” flaws, equally appalling in God’s eyes, like impatience, lack of compassion, lack of generosity, lack of restraint, the craving for wealth, boastfulness, gossip, and more.  These are the old things that you are dead/dying to.  In reality, in Christ, we are dead to these things.  It is also true that the old man tries to raise his head, and so we have to “put to death daily” those old things, as Paul suggests.  For the true Christian, the desire to put those things to death, and the desire for new things, is a vibrant growing reality.

Once we are new in Christ, and walking with God, as in any good and life-giving love affair, we desire to walk in intimate fellowship with, and long to please our partner.  So it is with God.  If we know Him, we know of His goodness, and long, desire, enjoy doing things which please Him.  He is our goal, our hunger, our pursuit.  We desire the new things He has birthed in our souls.  Those things look like the butterfly of the soul, or the light which has illuminated the path.  These new things stand as monuments to His ability to change and grow us.  We are ever increasing in our desire for and our ability to live in and enjoy this new life.  The old destroys our communion and intimacy with Him, just as emotional, physical, and other forms of unfaithfulness destroys our human relationships and wrecks intimacy with those we love.  For the Christian, the old is replaced by sobriety, compassion, faithfulness, joy, forgiveness, patience, self-control, selflessness, monogamy, truthfulness, repentance, a soft heart, a gentle spirit, thoughtfulness, love of purity, pursuit of righteousness, humility, peacefulness, a teachable spirit, generosity, a desire to live in community with other christians, spiritual gifts, the fruit of the spirit, and a hunger for God’s ways in general.  

What is critical to understand, again, is that a proper view of Christianity sees these new pursuits and desires and works of God, as a joyous reality of living in a fresh way.  They are not badges we attempt to earn or rungs on a ladder we are climbing.  We have access to this new way of life because God has birthed it in us, and we want more of it because we know it brings joy to God and enhances our lives and that of others.  It is truly like being fully alive for the first time.  Indeed the bible says just that.  “Before you were dead in sin (your old ways), now you are alive in Christ”.  We must see the old patterns as death, and the new as life giving treasures.  Only God can birth that new perspective in us.  It is like an entirely new set of spectacles has been put upon the eyes of our souls, and for the first time, through a divine lens, we see life as it ought to be seen.  Now, traveling along the freeway of life, the map is clear, and we can see the proper route which we never knew existed.  We can see, for the first time, the dangers which lie off the course God has drawn.  And new vistas open up to us around every turn.

Take in this new life fully.  Read His words.  Start with the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.  Then go through the rest of the New Testament, and focus on Paul’s writings which clearly show the transformation of the Christian heart and how we can stay on course.  Get deeply involved with a church, and a small group where you can know and be known by others.  Walk closely with those who are on the same journey.  Love others toward embracing the journey, but don’t celebrate their dark/old practices with them.  Paul tells us clearly, “Do not neglect gathering with those who know Him and who assemble and do church together.”  He also warns us of  being pulled back toward those ways of living not in keeping with the new life God has birthed in us.  Cherish your new life and don’t endanger it.  Be wise with your time, thoughts, social settings, relationships, and focuses.  As Paul tells us, the enemy of our souls ramps up the effort to distract us and to destroy us as we grow in intimacy with God.  Don’t walk around in fear, but be aware there are distractions galore in our world.  Appreciate, guard, and rejoice in the new life God has given you.

You are on the journey of your life, and on the road to the life you have always dreamed of.  Enjoy the ride.

Bruce Smith

soulstormsite.com

optimuslife.org

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