by Alton Russell                                                                                                        (Tsunami Small Group Leader)

Everyone knows that Christians are supposed to live a good life.  We’re supposed to tell the truth, love others, be good friends, treat people nicely, not steal, not cuss- the list goes on and on.  But what everyone doesn’t know is that being a Christian isn’t about just living a good life.  Really, being a Christian is about loving God.

People who are familiar with the church know that they have been separated from God by their sin, or disobedience.  Many people want to earn their way back to God, so they work really hard to live the good ‘Christian life’.  They put huge amounts of effort into not cussing, getting angry, or being mean.  But they never come close to paying God back for their sins. They put so much effort into this good Christian life, and they never feel clean.  They never get any closer to God.

Maybe its time these people stop working so hard to earn God’s favor and accept the fact that nothing they could ever do will bring them back to God.  Maybe it’s time they say “God, I know there’s nothing I can do on my own that would bring me back to You.  I know I can’t repay my sins.  But God, please forgive me.  Please make me clean again.”

You see, only by God’s grace can we overcome our sins and live with God.  Only if we admit that we don’t deserve to be with God will He reach down to us and draw us close to Him. 

Through this confession, we get to know God a little better, and the more we know God, the more we are able to love Him.  That good Christian life that you were trying to live gets easier the more you love God.  As Don Miller said in his book Blue Like Jazz:, “If you don’t love somebody, it gets annoying when they tell you what to do or what to feel. When you love them you get pleasure from their pleasure, and it makes it easy to serve.  I didn’t love God because I didn’t know God.” 

Living the ‘Christian life’ is not what being a Christian is all about; being a Christian is about loving God and finding joy in making Him smile.  The life God wants you to live isn’t one in which you labor endlessly to get closer to God.  It is one in which your love for God fuels you and makes obedience enjoyable.  By reminding yourself of God’s love, such as by reading Ephesians 3:16-18, you can make obeying God much, much easier.

Questions, comments or criticism?  Don’t hesitate to email me.