A brief Excerpt: New Christians should prioritize a personal relationship with Jesus, focusing on faith in His resurrection, and embracing their unique spiritual journey within a supportive communitity.
Are you a “new” Christian, or looking seriously into this Jesus thing? It can be overwhelming — too many cooks in the kitchen, and every one of them is certain they are right.
One bad habit we Christians have is fighting over the details. My first piece of advice is not to sweat the details. You can fight over those things with the rest of us later, once you get settled and know your way around.
Here is the thing. Belief, or faith, in the resurrection of Jesus is what makes you a Christian.
Everything else is commentary.
But that is where it gets interesting and complicated.
It can seem like the Wild West with all the chaos. Anyone can indeed start a whole denomination, but there’s no need to get into that fracas just yet.
- Which church to attend?
- Which translation of the Bible is best?
- How much money to give to the church?
- What kind of music to listen to?
- Pray standing, seated, on your knees?
- What color should the carpet in the foyer be?
The list could be endless. These are all things that matter, but that isn’t where your focus should be.
God has invited you into a relationship. That is the most important thing in life. It looks a little different for every believer.
It’s like learning to drive a car. You need to figure out how to turn the car on and make it go first. And you have people wanting to tell you which make and model to drive, or whether gas or electric engines are better. They might even want to argue over which color car to drive, or whether it’s cool to have a truck or not.
Those things matter, but you need to learn how to keep it on the road first.
It’s the same with your spiritual life
People may mean well, but they want you to get into their variety of Christianity, and they may judge you for not doing so. That’s just noise. Don’t listen to anyone who tells you that you are doing something the wrong way.
For instance, I don’t like to mark in my Bible or underline verses. Most people do, and I have my reasons. It’s respect for the text and wanting it to be fresh every time I see it. But that is my journey. No one should judge me for that, and I don’t care if you want to underline and color-code every word. I’m not going to start a no-marking denomination. But new churches have been started over less.
Those who have started churches and denominations think their flavor is best, and that they have bottled the secret sauce to the cool kids cloud in the heavenlies. The truth is, no one has perfect theology.
The relationship is the thing
Your personal relationship with Christ Jesus is the most important thing. I’d say it’s the only thing that ultimately matters.
In one of his letters — Philippians — the Apostle Paul listed his impressive credentials. Outwardly, he was the best of the best. But then he said that was garbage compared to knowing Jesus.
I would say the same.
I have been a Christian for 50-plus years. I have a master’s degree in New Testament studies. I have studied original languages and have translated a fair amount of the New Testament. That’s all good stuff, but it has not made me more spiritual. It has not made me love people who don’t deserve it.
What has then?
Here is what you need to focus on
That personal walk with Jesus helps me do that, at least when I can get out of the way and let the Spirit of God do its work inside of me. We all struggle. Even knowing this, I fail more often than I succeed.
That’s another point. No one is perfect, and you won’t be the first one to be perfect. God is not sitting up there with a checklist to make sure you did everything right, or believed everything right.
God has also not handed out checklists to other people so they can check up on you. We have the Bible as our guide, and we also have the Holy Spirit that whispers to us and changes us from the inside.
What to do instead
Instead of getting involved in debates, focus on your personal relationship with God. This is spiritual. Supernatural, even.
Be patient. It’s ok to listen to people and consider what they say, but understand they are just pilgrims too and still figuring it out themselves.
Pray a lot. Do things that make you feel more spiritual — whatever that may be. It’s a new thing, so explore your new reality with patience.
Find some other believers who are not judgmental about everything. If they hand you a list of stuff, find some other people.
It is good to read your Bible daily. At first, just read a few verses in the New Testament — the Gospel of John is a great place to start. Meditate on that, and listen to what the Spirit is telling you.
Go to some different churches — and again, watch out for legalism. I’ve found church is more about the people anyway.
It’s a great journey, but it’s a long journey, and there are lots of sights to see and things to experience along the way. Don’t feel like you have to have the answers or do everything just right.
It is good to know about Jesus; it’s better to know Jesus.
This story is more about your heart than anything else.
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. - Romans 10:9
Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words
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