HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, January 4, 2015 – Being born again is just the start of your journey Home, but it’s a good start.
To keep on track, here are some guidelines to help you along the Way:
- Make doing God’s will your default position, and help people according to God’s guidance.
- Run the race to win.
- Get to know God as your Dad, and get to know Jesus as your Lord, leader, big brother, and best friend.
- Read the Bible every day and apply what you learn.
- Choose to forgive everyone who offends or otherwise hurts you.
- Make doing God’s will your default position, and help people according to God’s guidance.
We need to live our lives like Jesus lived his life during his ministry years. As Paul pointed out, Jesus is our example. That doesn’t mean that we have to grow beards and wear a long robe; it means that we should make the same choices that Jesus made regarding how to treat people and how to relate to God. Jesus always did “that which pleased the Father”, and so should we. We do that by always choosing to do God’s will, no matter the circumstance.
There is not one issue that we’ll encounter in our lives that has not been dealt with by Jesus in scripture. His job is to show us God’s Way, and he does this by helping people who come to him for help. Note that he doesn’t try to help people who don’t want his help. This is a very important distinction. Too many times, we get discouraged by trying to help people who don’t want our help, such as preaching God’s Word to people who don’t want to hear it.
Just because you think that someone needs your help doesn’t mean that they’re ready to receive it.
Jesus is our example of how to help people. As we read in scripture, Jesus chose only to help those who expressly asked for help, and so must we. God will send us people to help and then give us the guidance and means to help them. In this, as in all things, trust in and lean on God, which is another way of saying “Do God’s Will”, especially when it comes to helping people.
- Run the race to win.
Paul said: “Run the race to win”. We should be training to win the “race” to Heaven the way that athletes train to win an Olympic medal. We may not know anyone personally who’s trained for the Olympics, but we certainly known the effort that goes into such training. Without a 100% commitment by the athlete well in advance of the actual competition date (the athlete’s Day of Reckoning), there is little to no chance of winning.
We likewise must make such a commitment to our end goal of Heaven. Remember what Paul said about Heaven – that he’d bear any amount of hardship and suffering on Earth if it meant he would make it there in the end. But we, as spiritual athletes, need more than just a commitment to make it Home: Like Olympic athletes, we need a support team that not only keeps us going but reminds us of our goal when things get too tough or our focus wanders.
Thank God, we have such a support team! First and foremost, we have God, through his Holy Spirit. We also have Jesus. These are our every-present supporters who are never farther than a thought away. We also have our born-again brethren here on Earth. We don’t know most of them, but they’re praying for us to win the race, just as we’re praying for them. We also have our training manual (the Bible) that we can read, learn from, and make constant reference to. We should always keep a Bible on hand, night and day, and get to know it as well as we can.
In addition, we have God’s holy angels and all the heavenly host. Make sure to ask your heavenly Father to keep you open and willing to accepting their helping hand, in whatever guise it appears (keeping in mind that strangers we encounter in our day-to-day lives may well be holy angels).
Paul called this spiritual support system our “cloud of witnesses”, and so they are. God has surrounded all his born-again children with immeasurable help. Use it!
Again, Paul said we’re to run the race to win. He didn’t say we won our race solely by being in it. There’s no guaranteed ticket to Heaven, but if you’re born-again you’re on the Way, so keep running!
- Get to know God as your Dad, and get to know Jesus as your Lord, leader, big brother and best friend.
Get to know God as your heavenly Father, understanding what a true father is. Talk to him, but more importantly, listen to him and follow his advice. He’s there to counsel you, as well as to console, protect, applaud, warn, punish, and even entertain you. He’ll never order you to do anything, only advise you, and if you’re wise, you’ll take his advice.
Remember – he’s your Dad, and he loves you unconditionally and more than you can ever imagine. He knows everything about you (even the things you’ve forgotten about). He’s seen everything you’ve done, heard everything you’ve said, and knows everything you’ve thought and felt. He’s also seen everything you’ve seen, heard everything you’ve heard, and read everything you’ve read – and he’s still your #1 fan. You’re his one and only, the apple of his eye. He’s moving Heaven and Earth to help you get home to Heaven. Let him be all he wants to be for you. Let him be your Dad, like he was (and still is!) for Jesus.
Speaking of Jesus – he’s your big brother as well as your friend. If you’re born again, you share spiritual DNA with him. At the same time, Jesus is also the Lord over all creation, as designated by God. But he comes to you first and foremost as your friend – your best friend. He’s got your back, but he’s not afraid to let you know when you’re being an idiot or are just plain wrong. That’s the measure of a good friend: to support you when you’re right, and to steer you right when you’ve gone off course. He’s the leader; you’re the follower. Follow his example in everything you do.
The aim of Jesus’ interactions with you is the same as God’s – to help you make the right choices so that you’ll make it Home.
- Read the Bible every day, and apply what you learn.
Read the Bible until it’s ingrained in your brain, and then keep reading it some more. You should read it every day and always keep a copy on hand. God will show you what to read. It’s good to read all the way from Genesis through to Revelation at least once, but after that, let God guide you on what to read. Just ask him in prayer, and he’ll tell you.
Equally important as reading the Bible is applying what you learn. There’s no point in reading it if you don’t learn from it, and there’s no point in learning from it unless you apply what you learn. The devil knows the Bible backwards and forwards, but he doesn’t apply what he’s read. There are many atheists who also know the Bible well (I’ve met a few) and can quote large sections of it, but they don’t believe what they’re quoting and so don’t apply the Bible’s teachings.
We need to read the Bible not only to know what’s in it but to learn from it and then apply what we’ve learned.
- Choose to forgive everyone who offends or otherwise hurts you.
The way to true peace and happiness starts with the choice to forgive. Note that I didn’t say “the way to true peace and happiness is through forgiveness”, because humans are incapable of forgiveness: Only God can forgive. When you make a decision to forgive, God works through that decision to make the forgiveness happen. It’s his forgiveness working through your choice.
Keep in mind that choosing to forgive is not the same as wanting to forgive. You might not want to forgive, but you should still choose to forgive. Even if you squirm and mutter under your breath while you’re doing it, you still need to choose to forgive. Choosing to forgive is always the right choice. It’s not a feeling; it’s a choice we need to make consistently and without exception.
If Jesus on the cross could forgive his killers, there’s no-one we shouldn’t be able to choose to forgive.
A BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER 