Did you notice at your baptism that all of your sinful habits, carnal desires, frictions with people and problems with government and authority were just magically whisked away? You didn’t? Take heart, I didn’t either. And neither has any other truly converted Christian experienced such an event.
However, if just after baptism you found sin’s pull on you much harder to resist, your frictions and maybe even troublesome disagreements with others grew more intense, your carnal thinking and self-will got monstrously aggressive, and you almost immediately had to face a huge trial—congratulations, your new life in Christ got off to a great start.
Most religious-minded people in this world want a religion that makes life easier, not more difficult. People don’t want to follow rules, let alone God’s codified law of love called the Ten Commandments. No one wants to see the rotten truth about the man (or woman) in the mirror. Yet that doesn’t stop them from considering themselves fervently religious people who do no wrong. However this is precisely what the true Christian life demands: getting down and dirty and dealing with your sin-filled, selfish, self-centered self!
“Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it,” Jesus Christ clearly stated (Matthew 7:14). Our Savior let it be known early in His ministry that true religion is actually a hard way to live.
Why is true Christianity so difficult?
It is important to remember that baptism is God’s means to provide remission for all sins that are past—only! (Romans 3:25; 6:3). Baptism takes us off the path to eternal death and puts us on the race track to eternal life. We have to learn how to run to obtain eternal life! At baptism, God also gives us His Spirit and along with it the power to help us run a smart and efficient race. Why? The path before us is full of boulders, ankle-swelling, leg-breaking pits, steep hills, precipices and even towering mountains! The Christian race never happens on a smooth, soft-covered athletic track.
True Christians must run a rugged, off-road kind of race—the marathon of all marathons! It is only after baptism that the converted are able to successfully go to work on overcoming the wrong thinking, sinful habits, lustful desires and personal problems developed while committing all those past sins that Christ’s blood so graciously washes away.
The people of God must break free of the false notion that baptism (or Christ’s religion) provides us a pass from trials and difficulties. Rather, the gift of God’s Spirit—which one receives upon repentance and baptism (Acts 2:38; 5:32)—opens up the opportunity to win through and overcome great difficulties. Putting in the effort to overcome our personal challenges provides God good ground to build His righteous character in us.
The benefits of living an arduous Christian life are tremendous. All true Christians want God’s character, but some fall short of enduring the difficulties required to reap real spiritual treasure. “Actually, this perfect character comes only from God, as instilled within the entity of His creation, upon voluntary acquiescence, even after severe trial and test,” Herbert W. Armstrong encouraged us in The Incredible Human Potential. None of us need fear or be squeamish about severe test and trial. Every second of difficulty we embrace has a king-size payoff.
How are you running your race?
Real Christian Conversion
This world is thoroughly confused about the process of Christian conversion. As God’s people, we must be knowledgeable and experienced about it. Conversion demands that a Christian live a life devoted to forward-moving, well-thought-out action. “[T]he true Christian has turned from his former life of habitual sin—and from his former attitude of selfishness and self-seeking when he had no serious intention of living God’s way. But now he has turned from his former way. His life, in general, now, is the habitual way of the Christian life,” Mr. Armstrong wrote (ibid). Study this quote carefully. God gave Mr. Armstrong incredible wisdom about true conversion.
Notice in particular Mr. Armstrong’s observation about each of our lives prior to conversion. We had “no serious intention of living God’s way.” Analyze your life before conversion. Did you have the determination to act in a righteous way? Did you view keeping the Ten Commandments, including the seventh-day Sabbath, as being significantly important? Did you pray, study and meditate on the Bible daily? Did you set goals to go out and do good things for others? I’ll be honest, I usually only thought about God and doing righteous things after I got into some kind of trouble or got trapped in some sin. Although I liked to think about God and spiritual things occasionally, I was definitely not living a Christian life with intent. I am fairly confident your life was somewhat similar.
Thankfully, the big thing on God’s mind at this moment is not our past way of living, but what we do in our Christian life today, tomorrow and next week. Our converted life must be radically different from how this world believes a Christian should live.
Be A Deliberate Christian
Once God converts us, He expects us to begin living just as His Son Jesus Christ lived. This is a huge undertaking, yet that is the sum of our calling. What appears to the world as impossible is possible! At baptism, God makes us His sons and daughters in embryo. What a life-changing honor. It is only by becoming different people—living God’s way—that we mirror that honor back to our Father in heaven.
“For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps,” Peter explained (1 Peter 2:21). Christ’s chief apostle learned many important lessons about our calling. There is an important one we need to think about often.
Prior to his conversion, Peter lived an impetuous life. The Gospel accounts reveal that he often spoke out and acted quickly without much thought. He allowed his emotions to lead him into some troublesome situations—even with Jesus Christ. If you study his epistles, it is easy to recognize that after his conversion he learned to live a different way—a more deliberate way.
One definition of deliberate is slow, unhurried and steady, as though allowing time for decision on each individual action involved. To do something deliberately is to think carefully about something before you act. Living deliberately is living carefully with a plan, not haphazardly doing what seems best, or right, at the moment.
When you carefully study Peter’s actions after conversion in the first seven chapters of Acts, Luke gives us a colorful picture of the change in his way of doing things. We see the chief apostle conduct himself in a purposeful, carefully thought out manner. Of course God’s Holy Spirit powerfully led him, yet he had his own part to play in the momentous spiritual events happening to him. The change in Peter is dramatic. The man who wanted to return to a life of fishing just after Christ’s death (John 21:3) is seen actively and purposefully challenging the enemies of Christ, and encouraging new converts to stand up with him to fight for God.
How about you? Would you rather go fishing, or are you ready to accept the challenge to live as a deliberate Christian? Here are five steps you can take to become a more deliberate—intentional—son of God.
1. Take Careful Thought
True Christians don’t allow their lives merely to happen—they live each day with a definite, well-organized plan to act as Jesus Christ did. “Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof,” the Apostle Paul exhorted the Roman Christians (Romans 13:13-14).
Paul’s teaching here is clear. He first makes the point that Christians must be consciously aware of and diligently avoid the sinful elements of our carnal past. He provides a short list of sins to watch out for. The list he provided was based on the sleazy and sordid Roman culture of that time, but honestly, our apostle could write a similar list—maybe even a worse one—for us today. It takes a well-tuned fighting spirit to stay out of sin. Living deliberately means formulating a plan each day of what sins and weaknesses to watch out for and avoid.
Next Paul emphasizes that we must also “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” This statement carries deep meaning that is not apparent in the English translation. The phrase put on is translated from the Greek word endyo and has the sense to be clothed with a garment. Christians must put Christ on each day just like they do clothing. Putting on Christ must become as deliberate—thoughtful and planned—as the clothes we wear each day. How much time do you invest in deciding what clothes to wear each day? Probably more than you think. But how much time do you devote to putting on Christ each day? Most likely not enough! Putting on Christ requires a lot of careful thinking and analysis.
2. Study Christ’s Life
A core class offered at Herbert W. Armstrong College is The Life and Teachings of Jesus. Textbooks used for the class include New Testament Survey and A Harmony of the Gospels. This class teaches our freshman students to walk as Jesus walked. If we are going to put on Christ, we must thoroughly understand not only His prehistory as the Eternal, but also the biography of His life as the Son of man. The four Gospels give us that compelling, God-inspired record. We must study and learn to walk as Jesus did.
How well do you know the Jesus Christ of the Bible? Obviously we can all know Him better. Do you know what He said, how He said it and to whom? What kind of people did He associate with and how did He treat them? What are the major tenets of His teachings? Many people study the lives of men and women considered great by the world’s standards. These “great” men are quoted often. We should be able to do the same for Jesus Christ. He is the greatest man ever to have lived (Luke 1:32). While you may not be able to take a class on the life and teachings of Christ, you can be self-taught. For less than $10 you can purchase the books we use in our college class: New Testament Survey by Merrill C. Tenney and A Harmony of the Gospels by A. T. Robertson are easily located through an online used bookseller.
Set yourself a goal this summer to do some extra study on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Doing so, you will gain a clearer picture of how you must be living—thinking, talking, acting—with God and your fellow man. God sent Christ to Earth to show us how to be fully successful spiritually. We must imitate His successful way of living to be a success. We cannot be successful spiritually if we lack knowledge of the details of Jesus’s life.
3. Live Meticulously
“God is not the author of confusion,” Paul emphasized (1 Corinthians 14:33). In other words, God does not act haphazardly—He does nothing by chance. God’s prophets, apostles and ministers emphasize that God has a master plan that He is executing. It is a meticulous plan full of fine detail. What about you? Are you living haphazardly? Do the events of your day drive you, or do you drive the events of your day? God is always careful to act in an extremely accurate and careful way—that is being meticulous. He expects us to learn to do the same. Being meticulous in living is not the easy way—in fact, it can be quite hard. Yet it is the best way to live out our Christian lives.
We must pray, study, meditate, fast, work and obey with an orderly, God-directed plan in mind. We cannot afford to leave our entrance into the Kingdom of God to chance. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you,” urges Jesus Christ (Matthew 6:33). Striving to live as a Christian all day, every day is our God-given, number one priority. God has a plan for helping us to get there. But that is only one half of the plan. We need to organize the other half.
For example, God has followed an orderly plan to deliver new revelation to His Church. When we consider all the literature given to us through Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Flurry, the volume of new revelation is astounding. It should take our breath away. God has been diligent and orderly in what He has given us. Do you and I have an orderly plan for not only studying new revelation, but for reviewing and applying it?
Making a study plan is not difficult. Grab a notebook and calendar; put your brain in gear and make a schedule of what booklet you plan to study each week. This is in addition to reviewing sermons and Bible studies. Some of the larger books like Mystery of the Ages may take several weeks. No problem—factor that time into your plan.
You can do this with all aspects of your Christian life—fasting, fellowship, helping others, performing intercessory prayer, assisting with fund-raisers, writing notes of encouragement, etc. It is amazing what you can accomplish with an organized plan.
4. Employ Your Own Initiative
God wants most of all to see us step up, expend effort and choose to live His way of life. Most religious people in this world believe that God and Christ are “doing the job” for them—especially when it comes to keeping the Ten Commandments. That is not true. “The Holy Spirit will open one’s mind to understand God’s instruction on how to live, but it will not force one to live God’s way—it will not pull or push one. Each Christian must take his own initiative, though God’s Spirit will give him help, faith and power,” Mr. Armstrong explained (The Incredible Human Potential). This is critically important teaching from God’s end-time Elijah.
God will help us be deliberate Christians, but He will never do the job for us. Christ wants to see us take the initiative—set our will to follow His lead—then He will give us the power to succeed (Romans 8:14).
We must take the initiative to pray, study and fast. We must make the move to fellowship with God’s people. We should be looking for ways to help others in need. Any Christian living a life without initiative is living a life of missed opportunities.
Jesus Christ lived a full and exciting life because He devoted His life’s energies to the tasks God set out for Him. “[W]ho went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him” (Acts 10:38). Jesus was a man of self-motivated action. He took the initiative to live God’s way of life, and used God’s power to carry out the excruciatingly hard things required of Him. He gave His back to those who scourged Him. He allowed Roman soldiers to pound nails into His hands and feet and thrust a spear into His side.
With the help of God’s Holy Spirit, we can develop that same kind of initiative.
5. Be Prepared to Wrestle Yourself
When we receive God’s Holy Spirit at baptism, God gives us His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). Nevertheless God does not remove our human nature. It is still very much with us. One fact we must face about our human nature is that it craves satisfaction; it does not want to be squelched! So immediately after God’s minister lays hands on us, it’s all-out war! Not to fear—a deliberate Christian is a good soldier of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:3). We can win the fight in the battlefield of our mind each day of our lives.
“The mind governs whether the converted Christian now follows the pulls, the impulses, the desires of human nature, or whether he resists them and is led by the newly received divine nature,” Mr. Armstrong explained (Good News, May 1982). The job of all converted Christians is to overcome their carnal nature (which is Satan’s nature), old habits and the temptations of this evil world. We must not be self-deceived: We have a real battle on our hands. The true Christian undergoes massive, often painful, change.
It is not easy to allow God to build His perfect, righteous, spiritual character in us. Nonetheless there is no other way. “One cannot learn everything in a minute, a day or a year,” Mr. Armstrong wrote. “One does not become perfect at one jump. It is a continuous process. No Christian becomes perfect at the very beginning. He does not overcome or root out all the sins, the wrong habits, all at once. He must do it little by little” (ibid). Few people in this world understand this incredible spiritual depth. We should jump with excitement because God has revealed this knowledge to us now. Why? We win big in the end (1 Corinthians 15:57).
Take on the challenge to apply these five simple steps and watch the escalation of your determination and progress. You will become a more deliberate Christian walking in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. It’s guaranteed!