By Funom Makama
Christianity is not a religion. It is a lifestyle which depicts the way Jesus Christ lived on Earth and hence the name "Christ-ian" meaning like Christ or Christ- like. Jesus Christ lived a perfect life without stain or spots and a perfect example to all Human kind to follow. But we, Humans are born sinners, we are not perfect and from time to time we fall into sin. How then can we live a Christ- like Life? Is it possible to live a blameless Life without spot or stain? Is the whole Christian stuff just too difficult for a person to follow? In fact, some believe, it is not possible to follow the teachings of the scriptures and hence we have to be 'super-monks' in order to maintain the word of God in our lives.
First of all, lets look deep into our minds and the kind of mentality we have about God. If we see Him as a very strict or tough Disciplinarian, or a person who waits for the slightest opportunity to chastise us, then we will never do right without feeling the heaviness of burdens on us. In the first place, if you take the gospel to an unbeliever, how do you portray Christ? As a Punisher of sins and the final Judge who will cast unbelievers to hell? That person will have the misconception about God as a wicked being and will never want to associate himself with a supreme being who only or mostly cares about punishing His own image and likeness. But if you portray God as someone who loves and cares a lot for him/her, making the person to see God's eager desire to make them worth living here on Earth and eternally in Heaven; then you definitely would at least achieve the first step of capturing their minds.
Will God, after sacrificing His son for us, because of His limitless love then put us under subjectivity and unbearable burden? Remember that, even when we do not deserve His love, He still loved us like His own. And after becoming His sons and daughters, we are co-heirs with His son, Jesus Christ. With such status, it should be expected that we enjoy the benefits and freedom of been co-heirs. If you are a co-heir to a king, would you be suffering? We can also cast our minds on the truth that God cares for us and His plans towards us are not evil but of good to give us an expected end (Jeremiah 29:11). So, when He says 'don't' or 'do' it is for our own good and not for Himself. God does not need us and He can absolutely do without us, but on the other hand, we need Him and cannot do without Him.
If we understand the points above, then what exactly is the aspect of the Christian life which seems difficult? A survey was taken by a Christian brother in the United Kingdom while another took the same survey but in Kenya. A total of 2,375 Christians cooperated with the survey and results showed that 1496 attributed the difficulty to the commandments and other do's and don'ts. 831 blamed it on some social norms which are not necessarily wrong or sometimes just inappropriate but still considered sin based on God's standards (like masturbation for example. Or even more justifiable, sex by already engaged couples). Interestingly, the remaining 18 blamed it on church doctrines. A whooping 63% are attributing this to the commandments, 35% on social norms which are still sin to God and 2% to Church doctrines. Though there are some subsets like 33% blamed the difficulty both to the commandments and as well social norms not acceptable to God.
You say the commandments are difficult? Come on! Fellow brethren, Jesus Christ made it very plain that the commandments are just two; Love the Lord your God with all your heart and everything about you and then Love your neighbor as yourself. Also, if you do not love your brother whom you see, how then can you love God whom you do not see? You only Love God by showing your fellow brother Love. 1st john 3:14-15 says "we know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not Love his brother abides in death, whoever hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal Life abiding in him. Hence, loving each other is very important. Now, practically speaking, if you love your brother, you will not covet his property or steal his things or sleep with his wife or even kill him. This is a simple thing to do. As Christians, Love is no longer a need because God Himself is Love. Rather, Love covers all needs because the Ultimate Love is already in us. Love is the Ultimate way to live a Christian life. Even if we do not see it in the Christian point of view, it still makes sense if we say, if you do not want someone to steal from you, then do not steal. Though we are not in the time of the Mosaic Law which strongly preaches on 'An Eye for an Eye' (Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, Deuteronomy 19:21). But also remember that you do unto others what you want others to do unto you. The Bible teachings and Laws or commandments are meant to not only guide us, but also on how to live together happily in Love. Why do Nations, Organizations, companies, cooperative societies and even small groups have constitutions or Laws binding them? The simple reason is to create a cordial relationship to attain a good mutual-ism for the various aims or goals of such organizations/groups to be achieved; likewise God. He is so interested in our well- being and hence the commandments or direct laws.
Furthermore, in Matthew 25:40 "Jesus encourages us to be good to each other for in as much as we do anything to the least of the brethren, we have done it unto him. For the commandments "You shall not bear false witness, "you shall not covet, and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying namely, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself". Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore Love is the fulfillment of the Law"- Romans 13:8-10 (also in Mark12:31, James2:8 and Galatians 5:14). In view of this, the next question is, is there any difficulty is showing Love?
The problem is, we live lives too conscious of the laws or the dos and don'ts, perceiving the presence of God in a nearby corner to flog us the moment we stumble. Instead of living with such a mentality as "If I steal, I will go to hell" why not change it to, "God is Love and His love that is in me will not make me steal"? And the moment you refuse to steal when the opportunity comes, you get fullness of Joy as your instant reward which as well will boost your spirit, morale and confidence in dwelling in the goodness of doing right even without been conscious of repercussions of doing otherwise. Direct your lives towards His love and enjoy its goodness, and then you will see that it is a lot easier to live in it than you think.
As for pleasures from social norms which are not God's standards, the same sentence has answered the question. If it is not God's standard, then it is not, and hence a sin to God. But issues like masturbation were a very crucial one in the survey in Kenya. A girl confessed that "since God hates fornication and Adultery, I feel we can replace the source of sexual pleasure from sex to masturbation, before I marry. After all, I am not having sex with anyone" Another man said " I love her so much and I am sure I will never leave my fiancée, so, why not we start having sex? After all, we are engaged". Well! These statements call for more clarity from the scriptures. Ecclesiastics 3 talks about time and season for everything we do on Earth. God is the creator of Sex and He gave us as a precious gift not only for procreation but as well to derive great pleasure from it. Nevertheless, He made it sacred and gave a special time we could exploit its pleasures, which is of course after marriage. Coming to think of it, it is so special and worth waiting for. Songs of Solomon 8:4 is quite clear on this. "I want you to promise me, O women of Jerusalem not to awaken Love until the time is right". This is also applicable to men as well. After all, if all the women would wait for the right time, the men then have no choice because both will definitely have to wait. Genesis 2:24 says "Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh". 'To become one flesh' means to be intimate or share your bodies or have sex together. As 1st Corinthians 6:16 confirms it "Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For 'the two' He says "shall become one flesh". In conclusion, until you leave your parents and cling to your wife, do not engage in sex. You may say this Biblical verse is also related to been engaged, but if you are already engaged, then why the rush? It does not make sense to be engage and still yearn for sex as if it will never come.
The problem is 'us'. We let lose our desires and we claim it to be human nature- which is totally true. There is a popular quote which states, "suppress your desires and you have conquered Human nature". But can we naturally be able to conquer human nature? Even the love we preach which seems so easy as we speak it, cannot be exhibited or shown by human standards? If we try by human nature or standards, then we can never achieve it. We can never conquer the Human nature and Paul proved this by saying in Romans 7:15-24; "I don't understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience shows that I agree that the Law is good. But I can't help myself, because it is sin inside me that makes me do these evil things. I know I an rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can't make myself do right. I want to, but I can't. When I want to do well, I don't. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. But if I am doing what I do not want to do, I am not really the one doing it. The sin within me is doing it. The law has shown me that something in me keeps me from doing what I know is right. With my whole heart I agree with the law of God. But in every part of me, I discovered something fighting against my mind and it makes me a prisoner of sin that controls everything I do. What a miserable person I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is doomed to die?" This is exactly the nature of Man on his own accord. Man can never do right, man on his own is bound to sin which leads to destruction. So therefore it is normal for people to say the Christian way of Life is conservative or subjective. But as a Christian, do you also see it that way? The same Romans 7 but verse 25 quotes, "Thank God! Jesus Christ will rescue me so with my mind! I serve the law of God although my selfish desires makes me serve the law of sin" and 1st John 3:9 said "Those who have been born into God's family do not sin, because God's Life is in them, so they can't keep on sinning, because they have been born of God.
Romans 8:1-17 explains the mechanism of Living by the power of God's spirit. As an unbeliever, you may not understand this, but give your life to Christ and be in the system, allow the Holy spirit take control and you would see how pleasant it is to live a Christ- like Life. There are many things we would like to have or that we think we need. Our society tells us that we need all sorts of things in order to be better or to be more attractive, or to be more acceptable. But Paul in Romans 8:1-17 tells us something different. He says that if we follow our own desires, we will die. When we are ruled by God's spirit,we love thoughts of God and goodness. We begin to desire what God wants for us. And He only wants what is good for us. His spirit helps us to overcome our selfish human desires and find satisfaction in what is truly good. "When we were controlled by our Old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced sinful deeds, resulting in death! (Romans 7:5). Also Galatians 5:19-21 lay emphasis on the evil results of following our sinful desires, which all result to death. But verses 22 to 25 of the same chapter said, "God's spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self- controlled. There is no law against behaving in any of these ways. And because we belong to Christ Jesus, we have killed our selfish feelings and desires. God's Spirit has given us Life, and so we should follow the spirit".
Now as born again Christians, should we just sit back and allow the spirit take control? We also have a role to play by running away from factors which would arouse desires. "Run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. Follow anything that makes you want to do right. Pursue faith and love and peace and enjoy the companionship of those who call the Lord with Pure hearts" (2nd Timothy 2:22). What a simple formula of a Christian way of living. Ponder on this verse again and again. Running from anything which will stimulate youthful lust as well includes Masturbation. If Jesus Christ condemns an act as simple as looking at a woman lustfully as Adultery (Matthew5:32), then why do we deceive ourselves to think masturbation is not bad? The activities involved in masturbation are not just the mechanical arousal of the genitals but a mental or physical picture of the normal sexual act is created through watching pornography. Or watching live sex or even by mental pictures through imaginations. And of course a clear picture of a known face is used through all the means mentioned above to aid the arousal of the sexual pleasure. If this is the case, then you are already lusting after the person who has the face aiding your sexual arousal and hence Adultery or fornication is as well committed, going by the standard Jesus Christ has laid.
Living a Christian Life is not assuredly a smooth one. After all, you will face persecution for been associated with Christ (2nd Timothy3:12, Romans 8:35-39, Matthew 5:10, Act 8:1). But overcoming these challenges is based on how well we live Christ- like Lives edging closer to His perfection and maturity in understanding the situations we should face as Christians. But also, is God too inconsiderate to allow us face trials and temptations? God is not wicked and He will not allow us to be tempted beyond our strengths and He will always provide a way of escape (1st Corinthians 10:13). Therefore as Christians, we do not have any excuse for not living righteous lives pleasing unto the Lord. Simply submit to God and resist the Devil (James 4:7, 1st Timothy 6"11-16). So it is very possible to resist the Devil as Christians.
Doctrines, been another factor is quite a serious issue. Some Churches over emphasize on a part or portion of the Bible, neglecting or not even focusing on the other parts; while others misconstrue the practical or contextual meaning of some portions of the Bible.
The Bible has been made readily available to us in different versions and different languages from the King James era down to our contemporary time of today. All these versions are not indicating different scripts or views of the Christendom, but for the purpose of reaching out to as many as could be reached. To ensure that people around the World irrespective of their ethnic groups, race, distances, cultures could still be reached and told the good news of the Gospel. Now that we have the word of God, why give more attention to men without any confirmation from God's word? If there is any need for clarification, the Bible is already there for us to clarify any issues we need to. No one is encouraging arguments within yourselves as Christians but, in as much as we respect the anointing of the Men of God placed above us to lead us, we still need to know that they are as well Humans and not perfect. We should not just swallow whatever is been told to us. But rather dig in deep into the word to know if it corresponds to what God wants. We should make the word of God our sure guide and manual to be able to live a free- flowing Christ- like Life. The Bible should be treated as a complete package or one unit and not a combination of several Independent Units. Every situation of Life is related in the Bible and its teachings are sure guide to help us live Christ- like Lives. DO not accept any Doctrine which is an unnecessary burden to you. Or subject yourself to some certain man made rules in which if accepted, but you fail to keep or abide by them in one way or the other, to you it is counted as sin.
In summary, an easy or free flowing Christian Life is not out of this world to achieve. Live according to the standard of God in the scriptures and above all, Live in Love. 1st Corinthians 13 gives us a good elaboration on how to live in Love. "What if I could speak all Languages of Humans and of Angels? If I do not Love others, I would be nothing more than a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. What if I could prophesy and understand all secrets and all Knowledge? And what if I had faith that moved mountains? I would be nothing, unless I loved others. What if I gave away all that I owned and let myself be burned alive? I would gain nothing, unless I loved others. Love is kind and patient, never Jealous, boastful, proud or rude. Love is not selfish or quick tempered. It doesn't keep a record of wrongs that others do. Love rejoices in the Truth, but not in evil. Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful and trusting. Love never fails! Everyone who prophesy will stop, and unknown languages will no longer be spoken. All that we know will be forgotten. We don't know everything and our prophecies are not complete. But what is perfect will someday appear, and what is not perfect will then disappear. When we were children, we thought and reasoned as children do. But when we grew up, we quit our childish ways. Now all we can see of God is like a cloudy picture in a mirror. Later we will see Him face to face. We don't know everything, but then we will, just as God completely understands us. For now, there are faith, Hope and Love, but of these three, the greatest is Love.
Read these verses aloud substituting your name for the word "Love". This gives you a much clearer picture of how to live a Christ- like Life by measuring up to God's Ideal Love for us. We would all be ashamed to know how far short of real Love we come at times. It is difficult to be patient when things just don't go our way. Which quality of Love listed in these verses would you like to see develop in your Life right now? Ask God to help you express that aspect of Love all day. Love helps us to Overcome all obstacles and a sweet and direct formula to a good Christian living. If you are not a Christian and you are reading this right now, why not give it a try, repent and give your life to Jesus Christ and focus on God's Love. You are fully assured of a better and sweeter Lifestyle which is second to none.
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