One thing I learned as I continue to grow in my faith is that God loves us exactly where we are. Before I fully surrendered to Jesus, I thought that I would have to give up everything I enjoyed doing to become a Christian. I thought I would live my life the way I wanted to live it and swoop in accepting Christ right before the deadline giving myself the best of both worlds. You see, I thought that Christians had to have it all together by following all these rules and having no life because they spent all their time in church and reading the bible. How boring. Boy was I wrong!
When I fully surrendered to the Lord, God changed the desires of my heart to align with His calling for me. He didn’t do it all at once. He took a section of my life and had the Holy Spirit convict me to change. For example, I used to love to go to the clubs and dance and drink and have a fun time with friends. God convicted me overtime and showed me that I wasn’t hanging around the best of friends. He showed me that drinking until I was sick was sinful, and the music I was listening to too wasn’t as wholesome as maybe it should be. Did I change completely overnight? No. I continued to go out and do these things, but then something happened. It just wasn’t fun anymore. As God changed my desires to want to be closer to Him, I eventually stopped listening to the not so wholesome music, going out all the time with the intention of drinking too much, and eventually weeded out the friends that weren’t the best influence on me.
My point is that God works on each and everyone of us in a unique way because we are all so different. We all fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) We don’t have to stress or create anxiety in ourselves to try and be perfect. And the best news is, we don’t have to portray ourselves to others like we are a perfect Christian. We don’t have to always have it all together.
Jesus wants us to be our authentic selves, sin, and all. He wants us to continue in a path that leads us closer to Christ, whether that is at the speed of the tortoise, or the hare, or looks more like a zig zag. It’s all about what is in our hearts. There are plenty of people who call themselves Christians who portray that they read the bible every day and they go to church every Sunday, but it doesn’t mean that they really know Jesus.
So, what does it look like to live a Christian life?
If you are asking me, I see living a life for Jesus as messy, vulnerable, and loving. We are going to fall short and have learning experiences and we are going to have wins where God is blessing us. We are going to have good seasons, and we are going to have seasons of trials, but in the thick of it, having a heart for Jesus and yearning to be more like Him is what God is looking for.
Go to church, build a community, read your bible, love, and serve others. When you fall, get back up again, brush off your knees and let God turn your mess into a message.