As simple and common sense as it seems, the first thing a Christian must do is do. I mean we let go of the world and ourselves, and in a sense the first thing we do is nothing, but we must do something. That first thing, or things, could be a prayer or reading the Bible. But the important thing to keep in mind is that a Christian must do things - real things requiring thought and movement. It sounds stupid, I know. Its obvious, but if you've been raised in a church, particularly a Protestant church, all your life, you've probably gotten the idea somehow that a Christian needs to do nothing but "believe". 'You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that - and shudder.' (James 2:19).
If you think a Christian does not have to do things, ask me about it and I'll prove to you that its absolutely necessary. Assuming this fact is established, we should ask a question: How do we evaluate our actions? Nine times out of ten, doing something (anything) is better than nothing. So I try not to be very critical of a Christian trying to do good deeds, even if he/she is not succeeding very well. But nonetheless, we should be concerned about the quality of our deeds. And to evaluate that quality I propose a singular metric to judge by. How we evaluate our deeds should correspond directly to how much they further the kingdom of God. We should always have God's kingdom in mind in everything we do. We should be trying to further God's kingdom with all the energy we have. This is primarily the task that God has given us. Of course there are other things we can do to honor God - prayer, fast, praise etc; but service seems to be our primary calling. For men this means being a leader - in the family, church, community, nation. It means teaching, preaching, evangelizing, organizing and the like. It means giving to the needy and using our talents to bring glory to God. For women this means loving and nurturing. Women have a special gift to basically make the world a beautiful (even tolerable) place. Giving words of encouragement when someone needs them, or comfort to someone hurting. It means raising children in a healthy environment, and supporting her husband in teaching the kids. So many things that either gender can do, but in all things we should consider the impact this will have on the Church.
Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Matthew 7:17-19
If you think a Christian does not have to do things, ask me about it and I'll prove to you that its absolutely necessary. Assuming this fact is established, we should ask a question: How do we evaluate our actions? Nine times out of ten, doing something (anything) is better than nothing. So I try not to be very critical of a Christian trying to do good deeds, even if he/she is not succeeding very well. But nonetheless, we should be concerned about the quality of our deeds. And to evaluate that quality I propose a singular metric to judge by. How we evaluate our deeds should correspond directly to how much they further the kingdom of God. We should always have God's kingdom in mind in everything we do. We should be trying to further God's kingdom with all the energy we have. This is primarily the task that God has given us. Of course there are other things we can do to honor God - prayer, fast, praise etc; but service seems to be our primary calling. For men this means being a leader - in the family, church, community, nation. It means teaching, preaching, evangelizing, organizing and the like. It means giving to the needy and using our talents to bring glory to God. For women this means loving and nurturing. Women have a special gift to basically make the world a beautiful (even tolerable) place. Giving words of encouragement when someone needs them, or comfort to someone hurting. It means raising children in a healthy environment, and supporting her husband in teaching the kids. So many things that either gender can do, but in all things we should consider the impact this will have on the Church.
Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Matthew 7:17-19
No comments:
Post a Comment