“How To Behave Like A Christian For Dummies”

We all seen them. The titles grab our attention because they at first appear to be insulting; that is until we realize why they are written.

What I am refereeing to is the popular “For Dummies” book series. They are instruction and reference books with which beginners in any area of interest can get simple, practical step by step instruction and information without looking dumb.

By simply reading and applying the lessons and instructions to our lives, we can become an “advanced novice” without coming across as a dummy.

I thought to myself; “There should be one for Christians who want to know how to behave”, because sometimes we (as Christians) are afraid that if we ask we will look like a dummy.

It turns out there is one. I am not referring to the book titled “Christianity For Dummies”. I am referring to what Paul wrote to the new up-and-coming church in the Middle Eastern region of the world.

Paul spells out a fairly simple “How to Behave Like a Christian For Dummies”. Here is an excerpt from a couple of instructional pages:

Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it.

Run for dear life from evil.

Hold on for dear life to good.

Be good friends who love deeply.

Practice playing second fiddle.

Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame.

Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant.

Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder.

Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath.

Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy;

Share tears (with your friends) when they’re down.

Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up.

Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.

Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone.

If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody.

Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. Let God do the judging and take care of things.

If you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness.

Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

(From Romans 12:9-21)

Dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you:

·        Compassion

·        Kindness

·        Humility

·        Quiet strength

·        Discipline.

Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense.

Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you.

And regardless of what else you put on, wear love.

·        It’s your basic, all-purpose garment.

·        Never be without it.

Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing.

Cultivate thankfulness.

Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives.

Instruct and direct one another using good common sense.

Sing, sing your hearts out to God!

Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.

(From Colossians 3:12-17)

My personal belief is that if Christians would read this simple instruction from Paul and apply it to their daily lives, the world will be a much better place to live.

And we get instruction and are able to live this without looking like dummies!

All Scripture taken from The Message (MSG)

Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

At the Right Place…

It was one of those mornings when I was wondering what my purpose was. I wanted God’s will for my life. I had spent the morning in an extended time seeking the Lord and reading, due to an illness that kept me away from church.

My soul had been seeking direction for the next steps in my life and my heart was being examined to deal with my sins of commission as well as omission. My spirit felt washed as I went through waves of responding to what the Holy Spirit was doing in my life.

Was I really doing what God had created me to do? Was I spending my days in ways that honored Him? These were the questions in my mind as I paced the floor in my home office.

I thought of a comment that someone recently said to me; he had called me a ‘man of God’. I may be a minister but I don’t see myself as a man of God.

I am a child of God and I am a sinner who is saved by His grace… “sola gratia” (through God’s favor or grace alone) which means that God loves, forgives, and saves us not because of who we are or what we do, but because of the work of Christ. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ that is received “sola fide” (through faith alone). 

I continued to read and pray and ponder and let the Holy Spirit continue to bring up the dross that had been lodged in my heart. I responded to sin that was brought to my attention by confessing, asking for, and receiving His forgiveness.

I asked how I got to place where I was at; physically, emotionally, occupationally, as well as my state of life.

I recalled all the dreams and thoughts that I had when I was in Bible School responding to the call on my life to preach. I recalled when hands were laid upon me in 1990 to be a deacon in our local church. And then, over the next few years I was ordained as an elder and then as a pastor.

What had happened to that passion that I had when I set out to respond to the Lord’s call?

Again, I asked how I got to place where I was at; physically, emotionally, occupationally, as well as my state of life.

Just then, I heard an unusual noise so I searched the room to find out where it was coming from.  I narrowed it down to the place where I had been literally standing. The noise was coming out of the place where our boiler tank is located.

I opened the cover to discover that the tank was making noise because water in the tank was low; almost empty

NOTE: We have an “open” water heater system and the open tank is located on the third floor of our home; which is the same location as my office. Each month water is manually added to the tank rather than automatically as in “closed” water heater system. Without adding water, the system will not have enough to fill the radiators and heating system will not heat properly and you get a cold house…so it is very important to keep the levels checked each month during the heating season

As I went and got some buckets of water to fill up the tank, I realized that I had been at the right place that I was supposed to be that day. In fact, I was literally at the exact place because if I had not been where I was at, then I wouldn’t have heard the noise, etc. etc…

Often, we pray for the Lord’s will in our lives but miss the forest for the trees. Meaning, we simply can’t believe that His purpose for our lives may be simpler that we think it is.

We, like His disciples, want to be used by Him and assume what that means; oftentimes jockeying for positions and titles as we seek His perfect will.

But the fact is, His will is much simpler than we understand even though He said it in plainly in His Word, the Bible. In John 6 I find at least two things that are the will of God for your life and mine.

First of all, “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.” (John 6:39)

Secondly, “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:40)

Once again, I had to admit that I was where I was supposed to be. That He was working all things together for good because I did love Him and because I was called according to His purpose, and that I was predestined to be conformed to His image (See Romans 8:28-29) according to His purpose. 

Once again, I had to admit and be grateful that He was doing a work to bring revival in my life and would be faithful to complete that which He started (See Philippians 1:6 and Jude 1:24).

Once again, I had to admit that I had been at the right place.

Once again, I surrendered as clay to the hands of the Potter.

Washing The Truck

My Saturday morning task was simple; wash our pickup truck. In a few hours, we would be heading to a family gathering out in the country and I saw this as an excuse to clean our truck.

 

While gathering the tools needed, I decide to wash and wax the exterior of the truck and “Armor All” the interior.

 

It was a task that shouldn’t have taken so long except for the fact that the bottle of wax was empty. So, I decided to head up to Target (yes, some of us still shop there) to purchase a new bottle of wax.

 

I also decided to stop at the Holiday Gas Station to fill up the tank for the long road trip. I returned to my scene of the washing one hour later.

 

As I washed and waxed the truck and cleaned the interior, I noticed that our other vehicle probably should be cleaned as well…which means that I ended up washing and waxing both vehicles and “Armor All” the interiors even though we would only be driving one.

 

Start to finish, the whole process used up several hours of my time. But, BOTH vehicles glistened in the sunshine and reflected everything surrounding them; that is until one day later.

 

Have you noticed that clean vehicles seem to get really dirty really fast? The next morning while getting in the truck to go to church, I noticed that even though it rained the whole time that we drove home from the party, the dust from the county roads still caked the outside of the truck.

 

In my opinion, the truck looked even dirtier than before I had cleaned it twenty fours earlier. One dusty road; one rainstorm was all it took to go backwards!

 

I suppose I could have put the vehicles in a garage or covered them with a tarp of some sort, but eventually, they would return to their former state of dirtiness.

 

All that to say this: Relationships are like that. We put so much effort into building, cleaning, repairing; and one misunderstanding; one conflict seems to make the relationship worse than before.

 

This was my mindset as I sat in church one Sunday when I felt as though I wasn’t on the same page as Cathy. We had migrated back to where we were before we had done some concerted efforts to move the relationship forward and make it stronger. And being a “fixer”, sitting still wasn’t an option and yet that is where I was at. Distant and detached and wondering what she needed to get us back on the same page again.

 

The worship team was leading the congregation in the song; “Oceans” by Hillsongs. And the words jumped off the screen to my heart.

 

And faith arose.

You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep
My faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

 

I always thought of that song as pertaining to moving mountains and believing God for a miracle; not mundane things like reconnecting relationships.

 

And yet the song proclaimed that His grace “abounds in deepest waters” and that His “sovereign hand will be my guide where feet may fail and fear surrounds me”.

 

And I thought of the truck; beneath the layers of dust and raindrops there was a fresh coat of wax. All it would take to get it back to the mirrored finish of yesterday was to wash it off.

 

The song shouted out to my heart: “You've never failed and You won't start now!”
 

Similarly; I needed to call out to the Lord to remove the relational dust and raindrops to reveal what was below those layers: A relationship built upon all of the hard work we had done before the dust and raindrops of misunderstanding and bad communication.

 

My response was to shout back to my troubled soul that was longing for help:

So I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

 

So I responded to the hand held out to me and cried out in my spirit:

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior

Oh, Jesus, you're my God!

I will call upon Your name
Keep my eyes above the waves
My soul will rest in Your embrace
I am Yours and You are mine

 

Grateful that the Lord responded with His grace to soften two hearts eager to once again go forward. together.