The Christian Life Is…
When I taught a Bible study class for adults, the lessons were similar in format and context to what is presented in these Study Notes. I simply studied God’s Word and then I would share with the class what I learned that week in hopes it would impact them the way it impacted me.
A common theme I’ve noticed in Scripture, as well as life in general, is we tend to make things way more complicated than they need to be. Several weeks back we studied the two Greatest Commandments which were, in a nutshell, to love God and love each other. If we can get just those two right, everything else generally falls into place. I didn’t say everything becomes easy, what I mean is our priorities, and our life balance fall into place: God first, Family second, Friends next, everything else after that.
However, we tend to make that formula way more complicated. As an example, for one of the classes I taught, I opened my lesson with a very simple statement, “The Christian Life Is…” We then spent the next 45 minutes discussing how we would complete that sentence and if we were not constrained by the class time, we could have spent hours discussing the statement.
Why did we have so much discussion? Because, while the best way to finish the statement is really easy, ‘about loving God, and Loving others’ the way we do that and the impact of those actions is broad and sometimes confusing.
Stop for a minute (or a bunch of minutes) and think about that statement as it applies to your own life.
The Christian Life Is…
When I made that statement in a Bible study class, you would expect to hear mostly “Church” answers like, rewarding, fulfilling, etc. which we did hear. But, when we got a bit more into the discussion, and people began to dig a bit deeper and got a bit more real and honest, that’s when we heard things like…
The Christian Life Is…
Hard (because of over complicating, social responses)
Confusing (because it’s about a relationship, not a set of rules)
Comforting (through a peacefulness that’s difficult to explain)
Time Consuming (going to church, reading the Bible, praying)
And the list goes on.
For me, as I thought about the statement before the class and after our discussion that day, I came to a rather simple way to complete the statement…
The Christian life is all about developing the strongest relationship possible with Christ Jesus. The statement, ‘The Christian Life Is’ isn’t a statement about salvation, it’s about loving God and expressing that love through a devotion to him and through living a life which shares that love with others. When Christianity becomes about a relationship, it changes everything. God becomes a Dad, Christ becomes a friend, and the Holy Spirit becomes a helper. We will still deal with the things noted above, but we will do so knowing we are not alone, and that leads us to an even simpler way to complete the statement,
The Christian Life Is A Relationship
