WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE BETTER?

 “I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. –  Romans 12:1-2 (AMP).

Have you ever tried to calculate how good a Christian you are? There will certainly be times when you don’t feel like a very good Christian, especially when you don’t feel like you read or study your Bible enough, or you don’t pray or have morning devotions as often as you like. And then there are those times when you lose your patience and say things you regret. If you feel that way, you are not alone.

Many people are wrestling with the “not feeling like a very good Christian.” They feel they haven’t done quite enough to please God genuinely.  If you begin praying for ten minutes a day, you feel that if you were committed, you’d be praying for thirty. If you’re reading one passage of Scripture a day, you feel a nagging notion that a whole chapter would be better. Wanting to do more and be better is one of the most common symptoms of the spiritual life.

The “I’m not a very good Christian” syndrome is not strictly a modern problem; Paul once wrote a letter to the church in Galatia full of people who felt these symptoms. They began to think God loved them less if they stopped keeping up with their commitments. If they faltered, their Christian lives were through. When Paul heard about it, he wrote a letter to the Galatians. “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? . . .  I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.” (Galatians 3:1–3, 4:11).

There is nothing wrong with wanting to be better. But what Paul is saying is that God did not adopt you as His children because you attended all the growth track sessions, prayed an hour every day, or memorized 50 key verses. All those are good, but you became a Christian by trusting in Jesus’ death and resurrection. It depends on His Spirit, not your effort.

The difference is that you are trying to improve yourself from the outside to change what’s on the inside instead of allowing Jesus to change your thinking and character from the inside out.

It will be just as Paul said in Galatians 2:20: “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Discussion Questions:

1. Have you ever felt like you need to be a better Christian?
2. What did you do as a result?
3. What would God tell you in that situation?