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August 5, 2024

Tips For the Christian Life, Part Two

Dr. Jason Neill

Scripture reading: Acts 17:10-15

Last week I provided some tips on how to “do” the Christian life. This week I would like to provide some additional tips. When I trusted in Christ alone for everlasting life, I didn’t know what to do next. I had numerous questions. How can I understand the Bible? What do I need to do to grow? What is the goal of the Christian life? Consequently, I am sharing with you all what I wish someone told me when I was a new Christian. I hope these tips are helpful.

If you didn’t read last week’s post, please read it before reading this one.

Tip #6: Purchase a Bible handbook. One of the most helpful resources I discovered in the Christian life was a Bible handbook. A Bible handbook is a book which provides a brief overview of each book of the Bible including, but not limited to, things such as the author of the book, when the book was written (the date), the intended audience (who was the book written to), and its purpose (why was it written). Here are a few Bible handbooks I would recommend:

  • The Key Ideas Bible Handbook: Understanding and Applying All the Main Concepts Book by Book by Ron Rhodes
  • Willmington’s Bible Handbook by Harold L. Willmington
  • Talk Thru the Bible: A Quick Guide to Help you Get More Out of the Bible by Bruce Wilkinson & Ken Boa
  • The Bare Bones Bible Handbook: 10 Minutes to Understanding Each Book of the Bible by Jim George

Keep in mind these handbooks are meant to aid you in your Bible reading and Bible study, not to replace it. Acts 17:10-15 is a wonderful example of a group of believers who checked out whether what they heard from the Apostle Paul matched the teachings of scripture. This is a good habit for every believer to develop; check out what you hear taught by searching the scriptures yourself. Afterall, we are known as “people of the Book.”

Tip #7: The key to spiritual growth starts in your mind. There are numerous verses in the Bible that speak to the importance of what and how we think. You may wish to look up the following verses: Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 2:11-16; Philippians 2:1-11; 4:8-9; 1 Peter 5:6-11.

If we are not careful, we can take a passive approach to our thought life. It’s easy to put our minds in neutral and gradually adopt the values of those around us. The key to spiritual growth is renewing our minds. For example, to grow spiritually we must actively renew our mind by reading scripture. What does God value? What does God hate? If we are to be men and women of God, then we must love what God loves and hate what He hates. This is what the scriptures mean when they call King David “a man after God’s own heart” (see 1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). David loved what God loved and hated what God hated. 

Our fundamental problem is that we enter the Christian life with old patterns of thinking. We can be as selfish, ungrateful, and impatient as we were prior to believing in Jesus alone for everlasting life. The means by which we become loving, grateful, and patient is by spending time not only reading scripture but thinking (i.e. meditating) on it.

The change may not be apparent to you; however, if you implement this tip into your life, you may be surprised by the comments of others. They may comment that you’ve changed, but they don’t know why or how. They say you appear more joyful, peaceful, patient, and self-controlled (see Galatians 5:22-26). It honestly baffles them. When that happens, it’s a great conversational opportunity to share the good news of Jesus with them. You could share with them how you recognized you were spiritually dead (i.e., no connection to God) due to sin (sin), that Christ paid your spiritual debt by dying in your place (substitution) and three days later rose from the dead, and, consequently, you trusted in Christ alone for the free gift of everlasting life (which can never be lost). It would take less than 60 seconds to share the gospel with others who remark about how you are different. 

Tip #8: The goal of spiritual growth is Christlikeness (i.e., spiritual maturity). God is in the process of making us look more and more in our character like Jesus Christ. If you have ever asked what God’s will is for your life, this is it. He uses all kinds of means to conform you and me to the image of Jesus (see Romans 8:28-30; Galatians 5:22-26).

Tip #9: Living a “thank you” life and pursuing eternal rewards. If a person enters the Christian life by faith alone (i.e., believing in Jesus alone for everlasting life), then what should motivate them? When a Christian appreciates the abundance of grace shown to him/her, they live a life of gratitude. In other words, their lives are a “thank you” note to God. Just as you would write a “thank you” card to someone who hosted you recently in their home for a lovely meal, your response to what God has done for you (i.e., living a life of obedience to the teachings of scripture) is how you tell Him “Thank you.”

Additionally, did you know that when we live a life of gratitude and do good works for Christ, He tells us He will reward us one day? In fact, twenty-four out of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament teach the doctrine of eternal rewards (see Matthew 5:12, 46; 6:1-6, 16-18; Mark 9:41; 10:21; Romans 8:17-18; 1 Corinthians 3:8-15; 9:24-27; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 2 Timothy 2:5-6, 11-13; 4:7-8, to mention a few). I’ll say more on this in a future post.  

Tip #10: Distinguish between salvation passages and discipleship passages. We must be very careful when we read our Bible not to confuse the one condition for receiving everlasting life with the multiple conditions for discipleship. We receive everlasting life the moment we believe in Jesus alone for it. There is but one condition: namely, faith alone in Christ alone.

Discipleship has multiple conditions such as loving God above everyone else, loving our neighbor as ourselves, loving our enemies and praying for them, following the teachings of Jesus, doing good works such as sharing the gospel, etc. I’ll say more on this in a future post; nevertheless, to confuse the one condition (faith alone in Christ alone) for receiving everlasting life with the multiple conditions for discipleship would result in a muddy gospel presentation. Let’s keep these two things separate.

It may be helpful to take some time and review the following Bible passages that address salvation versus discipleship:

Passages on the free gift of eternal life: John 1:12; 3:16; 3:36; 6:47; 11:25-26; Romans 3:20, 28; 4:5; 6:23; Revelation 22:17.

Passages on the costliness of discipleship: Matthew 10:32-39; Luke 9:26; 14:26-33; John 8:31; 15:5.