Strength in Christianity: How to be Strong
When thinking about what strength in Christianity means, I remembered a woman I worked with in the 80s. Not only was she the best cook ever for a Christian school but everything about her exuded Christ’s love. Kids, teachers, and others sought out her companionship, including me.
Of course, she was there to cook but she offered a listening ear, wisdom, comfort, and plenty of hugs. I never forgot how her faith affected me because I wanted to be like her.
Sadly, most Christians take on the persona of an unbeliever and fail to be living examples for Christ.
Why is that? What causes a Christian to come off flat rather than passionate about their faith?
Strength in Christianity Requires Love
The number one component missing from the Body of Christ is love. It fades from a Christian’s life when they go about their lives as though they aren’t members of God’s spiritual kingdom. And, that happens when you don’t spend time with God or follow His commandments to love Him and others.
Yet, love is how others identify others as Christians.
John 13:35 (AMP)
By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love and unselfish concern for one another.
Christians are representatives of God’s spiritual kingdom. If that’s not important to you or you see Christianity as boring and formal, you have a spiritual heart problem. God told me that once when I became prideful over a talent He gave me. Thankfully, I repented and allowed God to change me from the inside out.
It took years to have a servant’s heart whereby I genuinely loved God and people. For without love, my singing talent was a clanging gong that offended God. I never want to do that again—put myself on a pedestal towering over others and devaluing God’s importance.
As a believer, you and I are responsible to Christ to help people find solutions to everyday problems by showing them light to escape darkness. We do that through loving words and actions.
The second problem that prevents strength in Christianity is when religion takes the place of spirituality. An active and alert Body of Christ looks for ways to draw people into spirituality by relying on the Holy Spirit to lead, not religion.
Strength in Christianity By Ousting Religion From Your Life
- The strength of a believer isn’t based on relation which blinds people to the truth of God’s Word. To let scripture and God inside you, it’s imperative to spend time with both. They rub off on a Christian so a believer can reach out to others with the Gospel Message of salvation and make a difference.
- Religion is self-seeking so servanthood to Christ and others is unimportant. Onlookers aren’t fooled. They see a difference in people who know God personally. Otherwise, a religious person comes off as a mindless subordinate to a doctrine, not the personhood of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The last thing a Christian should want is to leave others unaffected by their faith. By taking on Christ’s true nature, love flows freely, grows exponentially, and influences others with its power and sincerity. Real love from God is unmistakable because the essential ingredient (God’s love) resides in a believer unabated.
- Christianity doesn’t appeal to others unless they see Christians help hurting people. Unbelievers should see the Church (its people) as the go-to place for food, shelter, and necessities. Unfortunately, religion runs interference so most churches look to their budgets and not God as their supplier. They hold on to what money they do have.
- Religion controls Christians when they are sloppy examples of Christianity. They mow the yard on Sunday, swear, have affairs, become addicted to tobacco, alcohol and porn, get divorces, gossip, and treat others with contempt and unkindness. Unbelievers don’t see anything to draw them to Christ. Effective Christianity beckons others to take a closer look when a Christian lives what’s written in the Bible.
- Doctrines and rules of mainline denominations (religious rules) prevent the Holy Spirit from working through God’s people.
Christianity doesn’t have to be this way.
Strength in Christianity Requires Improvement
- Christianity gets real when you live close to God. That means you want to please and serve Him every day. When that happens, lifestyles change and a person transforms into a disciple of Christ.
- Habits of effective Christians include reading and meditating on the Word of God to develop into a spiritually sensitive Christian. You’re equipped to find solutions to difficult problems. That happens when you allow scripture to sharpen your spiritual hearing whether reading the Bible or repeating scripture verbally. As you learn to hear spiritually, you depend on the Holy Spirit for the best answers for life’s difficulties.
- Be serious about your faith: repent, accept forgiveness, and move on.
- Don’t be deceived. Being in church doesn’t make you a Christian. The only way to the Father is through Jesus Christ. You accept Him as Lord and Savior because you believe He died for your sins, rose from the dead, returned to heaven, and will come to Earth once again.
Concluding Thoughts about Strength in Christianity
Effective Christians know that iron sharpens iron. It’s important to seek out mature Christians that know more than you do. They bear fruit, love people, know God, and don’t have secret sins. Of course, you want to sidestep fake Christians exemplifying lifestyles that don’t line up with God’s character.
As you grow in Christ, you gain more knowledge and obey God quicker. You pray more than you ever have and concentrate on strengthening the Kingdom of God. And don’t forget that effective Christians have willing hearts to carry out God’s will.
On God’s schedule, you and I are a mere vapor on eternity’s timetable. That’s why Christians soldier on for Christ to give everyone in their circle of influence an opportunity to accept Jesus as theirs too.
Just like the friend I mentioned at the beginning—be that person that spills out lavishly into another’s life.