The Bulletin
of the
Church of Christ at
New Georgia
Tim Johnson, editor
May 1, 2005
In
This Issue:
What
Must I do now?
by
Tim Johnson
What Must I Do Now?
When we witness someone obey the gospel, it is a joyous occasion. We are all happy that this person has made the decision to give his life to the Lord. The angels in heaven rejoice that a soul has been saved. All in all, it is a reason for much rejoicing.
But then, life goes on. Oftentimes, we forget about the newly converted, leaving them wondering, "What must I do now?" We sometimes fail to teach them how to live a righteous Christian life. Left alone in a world filled with Satan's snares, new Christians often become discouraged, indifferent, and fall away much quicker than it took them to become obedient. Just as the Bible gives the answer to "What must I do to be saved," it also gives direction for new Christians.
All things have become new - II Cor. 5:17
A new convert is a new child of God (Gal. 3:26-27), a newly chosen
one (Jn. 15:16, 19), a babe in Christ (I Cor. 3:1). Your spiritual
life is just beginning. Just as parents teach their children to live
in the new world in which they have been born, our Father in heaven
wishes to teach you how to live in His spiritual world. There are
many things you must learn as a child of God, all of which are very
simple. In this article, we would like to examine a handful of these
things to guide you in beginning your new life in the Lord. For those
of us who have been in God's family for some time, these things
should serve as sort of a measuring stick to tell where we are in our
spiritual growth. Are we still babes in Christ, or have we grown to
full age as children of God?
Add to your faith - II Pet. 1:5-11
In Luke 17:5, the apostles asked Jesus, "Increase our faith."
Just as they desired a greater faith, we should also. In II Pet. 1:
5-11, we see that we can increase our faith by adding to it virtue,
knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, and brotherly
kindness. If these things abound within us, we will grow to be
fruitful, we will never fall, and we will be given entrance into the
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Keep your windows toward Jerusalem open - Dan. 6:10
As a new Christian, you must not forget that your Father wants you to
talk to Him, to share your innermost thoughts with Him, to lean
heavily upon Him - just as your earthly parents want the same thing.
They want you to lean upon them so they can help you in your struggle
through this life. God also wants you to lean upon Him so he can help
you in your struggles through spiritual life. It has been said,
"Keep your windows toward Jerusalem open and you will not pitch
your tent toward Sodom." Daniel left the perfect example for a
prayerful person. Even in the face of death, Daniel continued to pray
3 times a day (Dan. 6: 10). As a new Christian, you should make
prayer just as much a part of your day as Daniel did. In other words,
make prayer a habit - a spiritual habit. Can you think of a better
habit to form?
Give Attendance to reading...meditate...study - I Tim. 4:13, 15;
II Tim. 2:15
Just as God desires you to speak to Him through prayer, He also
desires to speak to you. He does this through His word. Therefore, as
you begin your spiritual life, you should read God's word, the Bible
(I Tim. 4: 13, 15; II Tim. 2: 15). Not only does you Father in heaven
want you to read His word, but He also wants you to meditate or think
about what He says. "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out
of it are the issues of life" (Prov. 4:23). This is a
lesson within itself. Our thoughts make us what we are. "For as
he thinketh in his heart, so is he..." (Prov 23:7). As a new
Christian, you should have the attitude that David had in Ps. 19: 14,
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be
acceptable in thy sight, 0 Lord, my strength and my redeemer."
In addition to reading and meditating upon God's Word, you should
also study His word. Now when we mention study, immediately someone
thinks of books and memorizing, and, then, a test. Life, whether
spiritual or not is a test, a series of tests. Oftentimes, you will
not even realize you are being tested until you have failed. That is
why God wants us to study so that we can recognize each test and pass
them. Yes, we will fail some&ldots;several&ldots;a lot, but, the more
we study and practice, the better we will get at passing each test.
If we fail to study or practice, we will not be ready when we are
tested and we will fail more and more, becoming discouraged and
eventually give up trying. So, as you begin your spiritual life,
don't forget to study!
Let us go into the house of the Lord and worship God - Ps. 122:1
As David was glad to "go into the house of the Lord"
(Ps. 122: 1), all Christians, both new and old, should be glad to
come and worship God at every opportunity. We should consider this a
treat, rather than a duty that we have to perform. In worshipping
God, we honor Him as our Father. Wouldn't we want to give honor to
our earthly parents? In the same manner, our heavenly Father desires
to be worshipped and honored. At the same time, our worship to God
together brings about a refreshing of our souls, along the same lines
that eating refreshes our physical body. As we go through our lives
from Sunday to Sunday, we may become discouraged along the way.
Someone may say or do something that hurts us. We may find ourselves
tempted to sin on many occasions. Or, perhaps, we have yielded to
that temptation and, realizing this, we become discouraged. Our
fellowship together in worship to God serves to uplift us and get us
going again. In Heb. 10:25, we have a commandment to assemble, but
our assembly is also a means of encouraging each other.
Be not conformed to this world - Rom. 12:2
As you try to live your life as a Christian, you will be tempted to
give in to the ways of the world many times. Your so-called friends,
those in the world and those who claim to be fellow Christians, will
try to get you to do things that are against God's will. Remember who
you are - a chosen one, a child of God. You have been called out from
the world (II Cor. 6: 17-18). Walk worthy of this calling (Eph. 4:
1). Do not be a friend of the world. If you do, then you are the
enemy of God (Jas. 4:4). Do not love the world. If you do, then you
do not love your Father (I John 2: 15).
Take heed lest you fall - I Cor. 10: 12
Even after you, as a new Christian, have grown in these areas we've
discussed and have become of full age, you must still be very careful
not to fall. Yes, it is possible for a Christian, one who has been
chosen by God, one who is a child of God, one who has received
remission of his sins, has become a new creature in Christ Jesus, has
been saved through obedience, and has known the joy of this condition
to sin again so as to be lost (Rev. 6:4-6). Falling away, or
backsliding, as it is sometimes called, is evident by neglecting to
continually add to our faith, by failing to consistently pray to God
(using prayer like a spare tire - only in emergencies), by neglecting
to read God's word, meditate upon it, and study it, by becoming lax
in worship to God through missing worship services or treating
worship as a duty instead of a privilege, and by growing increasingly
fond of the things and pleasures of this world.
Does this describe you today? Five or ten years from now, will it describe those of you new Christians? We hope the answer to both of these questions is no. The purpose of this study is to assist in making sure that we grow as Christians to become of full age, mature, and complete in the sight of God.
When we began this article, our focus was upon those who have just recently decided to become Christians. But, we also indicated at the beginning that the thoughts presented might be used as a spiritual measuring stick for any Christian of any spiritual age. How do you measure up? Perhaps you realize you have failed to grow in one or more of these areas. Now is the time to correct this, before you get to the point where you no longer care and thus have no hope of repentance. If you have not yet rendered obedience to God, we urge you to consider the things we have studied and make the decision today to become a part of God's family.
-- Tim Johnson