Living as a Christian

The Lord Jesus describes how true Christians will live in His first message. It is described as ‘The Sermon on the Mount’. It describes what a true believer will be like. They will be humble, they will love what is right, they will love their enemies and will be good to those who are seeking to hurt them. They will pray and they will not pretend. Jesus said that people would see their good works and give God praise because it would be evident that He is the one who has made them different. A true Christian will be on a journey that is about constant and gradual change. Many people wrongly think that Christians are people who will be saved because they are trying to be good. It is quite the opposite. Christians are seeking to be the kind of people they ought to be because they are saved already.

You can read The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5-7 in the New Testament, but there are so many other parts of the Bible that describe the wonderful and loving new life to which we are called. You can take a look at them in these other parts of the Bible: Ephesians 4-6 and Colossians 3-4.

You will see that this is about our personal, family and working lives.

One man I spoke to said that he couldn’t become a Christian because he couldn’t live the Christian life. I advised him that you cannot live as a Christian until you are a Christian. It is then that you discover the truth that Jesus said, “Without me, you can do nothing.” Once Christ is your Saviour you discover that you want to live as He says, and you discover a new power in your heart to begin living.

And when you do fail, it is not final. Christ gives strength to begin again. In one place in the Bible it says, “God has begun a good work in you, and will complete it.”