This just in from our global online tribe: I really like your “Activate My Faith” blogs. Are some steps more important than others in activating my faith?
One important step every Christian on the planet must take to activate their faith is BEING more like Christ and DOING less of what the world promotes.
For me, it took a very very long time to activate my faith and it’s still a life-long work in progress.
Early in my walk with God my mind convinced my heart that I knew everything about SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE. My misguided thinking figured I was disciplined from playing football in college and becoming a successful corporate CEO.
I naturally took that discipline into everything I did—including my faith walk with Jesus. It failed because I had missed the imperative to switch from DOING to BEING.
My approach to spiritual maturity was focusing on transactions (DOING)—praying, reading the Bible, tithing, fellowshipping with believers, and serving others through ministry.
Spiritual discipline is the means to Godliness, not the end. A person is not automatically Godly just because he or she practices the spiritual disciplines (God’s Word, praying, tithing, and fellowship).
How do I stay on track to BE more like Christ and DO less of what the world covets? Here are the five areas I continually revisit to focus more on being and less on doing:
SELF-WORTH
Satan works hard to deceive us into DOING things that flood our heart with discontentment instead of receiving God’s joy by BEING in Christ.
FEAR
Our level of fear and worry is determined by how much we believe that God is in control.
HOPELESSNESS
The more distance we allow to form between us and God, the more we will DO outside of his will to bridge the gap.
PAIN
Believers need to recognize that our pain is a disguised opportunity to BE like Christ and stop DOING like the world.
ANGER
It is extremely difficult to BE like Christ when we are angry. Unless we give our anger to God, we will be tempted to DO whatever the world says.
I ask God to guard me from tiring of putting forth the discipline it takes to elevate who I am in Christ over what I do in the world.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Are you consciously attempting to BE in Christ more than you DO in the world?
“In the unity of common faith, and knowledge of the Son of God, we arrive at real maturity–the measure of development which is meant by ‘the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:13
