Where to start? Oi. Might as well start with the title as it marks a new beginning…
Godly Habits for Living Your Best Life
is what I’m calling the newsletter associated with this blog. The newsletter will be an Executive Summary of the week’s posts. If I post too much or post some things that aren’t “all that”, I’ll exclude those. Just the highlights please.
The inspiration came, in part, from James Clear’s Atomic Habits book, but I won’t be trying to re-invent his wheel. If you want to learn how to develop good habits, buy his book. What I’ll do is apply James’ techniques to God’s principles to enable you to live your best life.
When we first accept Christ, it is easy to be overwhelmed. It is an emotional experience but it is also a spiritual experience. God creates holy spirit (Eph 1:13-14) within us and, whether we realize it or not, we are changed, literally forever. Everything changes.
What changes?
We begin to see everything in a new light. For most of us, we enter a different world through whatever church or organization the person who brought us to Christ is involved with. We also begin to look for ways to please God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Other areas of our lives may remain unchanged. We have the same jobs with the same problems we had yesterday. Often new problems arise relating to our new faith. Can we be open about accepting Christ? How does our new faith change how we do our jobs? Our home life may or may not change. In the book of Acts, we read more than once where one person accepts Christ and his whole household (family) does too. In today’s world, it may not be the head of the household who accepts Christ first and even if s/he does, they might be met with resistance, if not outright hostility.
How Should One Proceed?
The answer to this varies depending on the circumstances. Obviously someone living in a a Christian family who finally accepts Christ after holding out is in a much different situation than someone who brings their new faith into a wholly secular family. If the family is of another faith, then the problems could well multiply. Either way, it helps to realize you are at the start of a journey rather than crossing the finish line. In short: God has plans for you. He made them from before the foundation of the world. (Eph 1:4). No matter what circumstance you find yourself in, rest assured, God knows where you are at. The very best thing you can do is seek out God and commit to living your best life starting now.
God is already involved in your life. He always has been. It is time for you to include Him in everything you do, as much as you can. Here’s how to get started:
Pray – every time you pray, you are seeking God and/or acknowledging Him. Develop the habit if praying – of turning to God as much as possible. If you have started praying perfectly, then do this as often as possible.
Read, study, and contemplate God’s Word. Your priority should be to understand how God thinks of you. You are the apple of his eye (Zec 2:8), He chose you for a reason. (1Pe 2:9), and, of course, God loves you. The better you understand these things the more your joy will be full.
Fellowship – spend time with other believers.
We are also instructed to put on the new man
But.. what IS this “new man“? This is where our new Christian life becomes really exciting!
Modern Christianity has all but lost the significance of one of God’s most glorious achievements. Instead, we’ve been inundated with all kinds of poor substitutions. In short, we’ve replaced substance with style, as in “The Christian Lifestyle”. Let’s back up a bit.
Chances are, when you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you first learned about sin. How sin entered the world through Adam. How mankind has been plagued with sin ever since. How Jesus, God’s Anointed One, the promised Messiah, came and lived a sinless life, shed his innocent and sinless blood for our sins when he died upon the cross. You likely learned how we are now dead to sin. All of this is accurate and true. What we are not often taught is how literal all of these things really are.
Our “old man” is literally dead to sin. It is gone, past, buried. The only thing that lingers is our own refusal to let go. We keep returning to our old nature – those things we lived with before we accepted Christ. In real terms, we insist on carrying our old baggage with us. This need not be so.
You are not the same person you were moments before you accepted Christ. Everything is different now. You are no longer a natural man. You are a spiritual man. (1 Corinthians 2:11-14)
You are capable of so much more. As a spiritual man (or woman) you have spiritual abilities. Modern hero movies imagine all kinds of superheroes with enhanced abilities. These fantasies are a bastardization of the truth. As born-again Christians, God empowered each of us with nine operations or manifestations of our spiritual beings. These are listed in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11
For now, focus on seeking things above where Christ sits on the right hand of God (Col 3:1).
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