Christian Living

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Ever seen a top tennis player at a Wimbledon or Forest Hills final? He crouches to take a serve, muscles taut, ready. He is totally focused, every fibre of his body tuned for that moment. Fit enough to go five sets if he has to. All week he’s been perfecting his game between winning preliminary rounds. His world revolves around tennis. It’s what he lives for.

So it should be in our walk with God. That should make us tick, consume us. It should be our reason for living, what motivates us to get out of bed. Everything else ought to be incidental—milk in our tea, sauce on our veges.

Serving God, knowing His purpose and doing it. What greater goal can there be? If that’s our aspiration, most of the things we’re concerned about—money, food, clothes—will come to us without striving. God promises it in Matthew 6:25-34.

While things and possessions remain a priority, God fades into the background—and therein lies the problem in Christianity today. We have allowed the unimportant to consume us until our Christian walk becomes part-time, the lunch break rather than the full shift.

Would a sinner who refuses to give up the sin ever have been a bishop in the Early Church? The apostles would have laughed at such a proposition. They were holy, full-on people, consumed with Christ, living as He told them, seeing the supernatural. Satan couldn’t touch them.

That’s the kind of Christianity the world is waiting to see; bold people who live for Christ; “Full of the Holy Spirit” as we read in Acts. When that happens we will again see three thousand come to the Lord in a single day (Acts 2:41).

We shouldn’t be content with something less than that dynamic Christianity. Why be an imitation when we can be the real thing? Who wants a counterfeit Rembrandt or Picasso? They’re worth only a fraction of the original.

As a distant figure is vague until we draw near, so it is with us and God. The further we are from Him the more remote He is. As we get closer we realize how great He is, and how He can influence the course of our lives. “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” (James 4:8)

So let’s reassess our lives. Let’s ask the personal questions. What am I living for? What am I doing for God? What are my priorities?

[I'm not in "Private Messenger" so I can't read and reply to your emails sent there. You can reach me at saul2_au at yahoo dot com (You know the correct email format—I wrote it that way to confuse the web ‘spiders.’)

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