The Green Pastures

The Christian Who Does ____

“But I am afraid that, even as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning, your minds may be corrupted and led away from the simplicity of pure devotion to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 11:3

In walking the Christian walk, it can be easy to overcomplicate things, making some things harder than necessary. As this verse says, we can trace that tendency to Eve in the garden. We may see impossible, life-altering circumstances when in actuality, we just inflate simple problems and miss the simple solutions. We, like Eve, have been led away from the simplicity of pure devotion to Christ. I used to ask myself, and those around me, how to do every little thing, thinking there was a specific step by step guide to every scenario. I only stopped when I asked a pastor of mine, and he said it was much simpler than that. He said to just be a Christian who does ____. God calls us to be wise, to love, and ultimately to be Christlike. So whatever you need that step by step guide for, just be an image of Christ in it. It may be easier to see the specifics in certain scenarios more than others, but I’ll do my best to show how to, without overcomplicating it.

Imitating Jesus

“Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who practices good is of God” 3 John 1:11a

The word Christian means to be a little Christ. If we have an image of Christ encountering something, then we should look to Him as our only example when we face similar encounters. That may seem obvious, but I still felt it was important to write about, because far too often, I and people around me, forget to look to Christ for how He acted in certain times. Maybe we think we do not need to bother looking to Christ because we think we will be good anyway. We must always be practicing good and imitating what is good. By looking to ourselves to get through something and not to  God, we are imitating idolatry of self. Rather, we must look to Jesus every time and imitate Him. If there are times when it is harder to see what Jesus would do, then we should take advantage of when it is easy. I would now like to give examples of when Jesus went through similar circumstance to ours and how to use those circumstances to help us. Maybe you feel as if there is someone who just has it out for you. Jesus had the Pharisees going after Him every chance they could. Yet, He never retaliated in sin. Sure, He got angry, but only righteous anger. Nevertheless, I believe Jesus even died for the Pharisees. I’m not saying you have to die for your enemies, but love them in spite of their anger toward you. Maybe you are in a season of loss. Jesus faced great loss in His time on earth. Maybe the most well known loss would be Lazarus. When Jesus went to His good friend Lazarus’ tomb, He wept, even knowing that He was about to raise him back to life. I believe this shows that sorrow is allowed in the Christian walk. It is okay to feel sad when sad things happen. However, if Jesus only wept, Lazarus wouldn’t have been raised. There comes a point when sorrow must not be dwelt upon, but be used and acted on. I hope these examples can show how to look for stories in which Jesus faces similar trials to us and how you can use them to help you get through. 

Equipping for Every Work

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for instruction, for conviction, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, outfitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

As I previously stated, it can be easy to apply the parts of the Bible that are obviously similar to a situation. However, it may be much harder to do so with things that don’t  correspond to situations as clearly. Times have drastically changed from biblical times to now. The problems of when the Bible was being written are not the same problems we have now, at least on the surface. Luckily, the Bible has never dealt with the surface level, but with the root of the problems, and those are still the same. We must not rename sin and it’s consequences. We often put new labels on old problems. That leads to confusion and over-complication. Once you simplify and use the terms of the Bible and not of the world, it will get much easier to find verses that help. Another way to see the Bible helping when it’s not obvious is to ask those around you. Bring in others around you to help connect the Bible to your situation. I believe the Bible can help in all areas. It may be harder to see, but God will illuminate what He needs you to see. So, go to Him in prayer and ask that He would reveal His word to you. It might be through the faithful preaching of a pastor or your personal reading jumping out to you in a new light, but He promises that those who seek Him will find.