3 Best Christian Lifestyle Principles
What is it that you want in life? As a Believer, we want to seek the best Christian lifestyle possible.
You won’t find it looking anywhere other than these 3 places! Take the time to review, it will change your life!
Working with people for the last 20 years as a pastor and doing my own research, Google and a lot of people who contribute to its search, lay out a basic understanding of what people are looking for in life–sadly, to a dead end.
Why won’t you find what you’re looking for there? You can fulfill each and every one of the categories below and still not feel… happy.
I’ll make this blanket statement first –
God and His Word, in Christ, will fulfill you in every single one of these areas in your life.
- Happiness
- Health
- Wealth
- Prosperity
- Security
- Good Family Relationships
- Good Friends
- Harmony
- Meaningful Work
- Leaving a Legacy
- Hope
- Peace of Mind
- Fulfillment
Do you want these? Great, you’re just like everyone else in the world. The bigger question is; how do we obtain these? It’s one thing to find and lay out what people are generally looking for, it’s another to fulfill their desire. And I’m talking long term, none of this instant gratification that dwindles fast. So my biggest challenge is to stay long enough to let God work in these three areas.
Christian Lifestyle #1: The Godhead
This is not a post to explain to you the Trinity. That would take all our time and still leave our heads spinning.
The Godhead is first on my list because believing in God isn’t enough (James 2:19). Claiming Jesus as our Savior isn’t either. John Bevere says, “It’s not enough to confess Jesus as Savior. You must make Him your Lord. Savior is the benefit you receive. Lord is the position He is to be given.” Sadly, many who claim Christianity are simply not saved because they are not positionally in Christ. They are “Christian” only in title.
We, lastly, need the work of the power of the Holy Spirit to remain in Him. When we believe in God, surrender to Christ, the Holy Spirit begins His work in our lives. Jesus isn’t just our Savior (in times of need, out of desperation), He is also our Lord. Jesus as Lord causes us to surrender to His plan and purpose. Including the hurt.
Yes, you will be hurt in life. Because everywhere you go you’ll encounter people and people will hurt you. Even if you isolate yourself, you’re still there, hurting and disappointing yourself.
Trust God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Simplify, don’t analyze.
Christian Lifestyle #2: The Word (Bible)
“If you love Me, you will obey what I command.” John 14:15
This is very unappealing to the world. Verse 16 explains, “the world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him.” So, to the world, obeying God’s commands seems worthless, in today’s mind it’s considered mean. It is not. God is love. The issue is that we allow our emotional baggage to cloud out true love. It is replaced with a lesser, very worthless, substitute that will not last. This leaves people still on a quest to find the list posted above.
This vicious cycle is exactly where the enemy wants us. We are useless for the Kingdom, many even miss the Kingdom, when we are distracted filling this ever-present void. Only God, in Christ, through the movement and power of the Holy Spirit will fill that emptiness.
The Word, our bible, lays it out for us. It is our map and guide to the truth. When it’s applied to your life it works to fill the emptiness and bring peace even in the midst of the storm. It’s not a fast-food or microwave sort of fulfillment, and that is the major problem with today’s society. Not many stay at anything long enough to recognize its power in your life.
Christian Lifestyle #3: The Church
Much like the world’s approach to The Word, The Church brings distaste and even hatred to peoples minds. As a result they keep their distance. Again it’s the result of the same two voices that lead us astray. It all stems from hurt. When we allow the voice of hurt to speak louder than God, we listen to the loudest voice. It’s natural.
Therefore, we must make decisions against ourselves. We do it when we workout, eat healthy, wake early for work, etc. Why can’t it be done for our spiritual lives? It must, if we want to be fulfilled. We won’t get in shape, lose weight, or keep a job without it. Likewise we will not find purpose or God.
This doesn’t stop corruption, selfishness, control, abuse, or other forms of hurt from happening. But the longer we focus on working out our own spiritual body, the more focused we can be to recognize the real toxicities. And when we’re hurt, no matter how deeply, we’re able to walk away without weaponizing our hurt by creating more destruction and hurt. “Hurt people, hurt people.” We must stop the cycle. If everyone did this in righteousness the corruption would cease to exist simply because righteousness always rings louder and speaks more deeply.
Maybe you’ve become disillusioned to the church or spiritual leadership. Maybe you’ve gone as far as deconstructing your faith, as is the habit of so many in the past decade. From a biblical standpoint I see clearly that these people are listening to the wrong voices.
There are two voices that will lead us astray:
- The voice of your own emotion
- The voice of others emotions
It doesn’t matter if it’s a past megachurch pastor, ‘Christian’ band or member, a public figure, all are not listening to the right voice. And yes, God speaks through many different ways. It is, however, God speaking.
The most recent (at the time of this post) was that of a megachurch pastor. It didn’t take me long to take a biblical worldview approach to recognize this point about voices. If he was genuinely reading God’s Word and seeking the movement and voice of the Lord, God would speak. The problem with him and so many others on the deconstruction path is the same–there are too many other voices being allowed in and it’s clouding out the truth. Emotions do that.
God certainly can speak to us through emotions, that’s why He brings us into crisis. It stirs us up to realize our need for Him. But, God wants more than mere emotions.
The devil, on the other hand, only speaks through emotions. He is the father of lies. If he’s speaking, he’s lying. So, if you’re listening, you’re being deceived.
Human nature has a tendency to over complicate things. Let’s get back to the simplicity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
A conclusion
THE GODHEAD, THE WORD, THE CHURCH. Three things that will change your life. The biggest challenge is consistency. It’s not a camp, retreat, or mission trip sort of change that lasts until you’re back home a week. Take these three principles and apply them to your lifestyle. Sanctification is God’s tool to change us. All other forms of change are spiritual quackery. Seek Him first. Seek Him in the long obedience = see change that lasts!
Want help walking through life? I’m a ministry and life coach, here to help. Use my connect page and reach out to me with how I can come alongside you. Thanks for taking the time to read this post. I pray God’s blessing over you.
