Renew Your Commitment to the Word of God

How we (believers) really need to go back to the "basic".

How to Trade Passive Belief for Active Faith that Changes Your Life

Whitney Hopler

If your Christian life is boring or unfulfilling, you’re not living the life Jesus is calling you to live. Your faith should challenge you to keep learning and growing in exciting ways that change your life for the better.

Jesus loves you just as you are, but He loves you too much to want you to stay that way. His will is for you to move beyond passively believing in Him but not really changing, to actively living for Him in ways that will change your life significantly. Here’s how you can do that:

Make a commitment to Jesus. You can’t follow Jesus halfheartedly; He asks you to either walk away from Him or commit to Him completely. Pray to begin an eternal relationship with Jesus by repenting of your sin and accepting His sacrifice for it on the cross. Make your relationship with Jesus your top priority in life. Devote more time and energy to growing closer to Jesus than you do to any other pursuit.

Decide to follow Jesus in every part of your life. Rather than limiting your faith only to the times you spend praying or worshiping in church, extend it to every aspect of your life – from your family life to your job. Seek Jesus’ guidance for everything that you say and do, and choose to follow His guidance.

Claim the joy that is yours as a Christian. Remind yourself often of the incredible truth that, as a Christian, you have eternal life in heaven awaiting you. Let the knowledge of that wonderful gift from Jesus give you joy every day.

Become a true disciple. If you’re really going to be a disciple of Jesus, you’ll love Him more than anyone or anything else. Be willing to make whatever sacrifices are necessary for you to follow where Jesus leads you. When what Jesus wants you to do conflicts with what other people want you to do, choose to follow Jesus. Don’t hesitate to step out to do something that God is clearly leading you to do, since God will always empower you to do what He asks you to do. Keep in mind that investing time and energy into serving Jesus is the best investment you can ever make, since it has eternal value. Expect to see results of discipleship in your life if you’re truly following Jesus, such as a growing love for His Word (the Bible) and for other people, a desire to share the Gospel message with others, a longing to spend time with Jesus in prayer, and the courage to endure persecution or other hardships in order stand by your convictions.

Grow closer to Jesus through the Bible. Make a habit of reading, studying, memorizing, meditating on, and applying the Bible’s words to your life regularly. Pray that God will speak to you in fresh ways through the Bible whenever you read it. Ask yourself thoughtful questions about what you read in the Bible, such as: “Is there a sin mentioned that I need to confess or forsake?”, “Is there a command given that I should obey?”, “Is there a promise made that I can look to in my current circumstances?” and “Is there a prayer given that I could pray?”

Grow closer to Jesus through prayer. Rather than worrying about whether or not you’re using the right technique when praying or how eloquent your prayers sound to Jesus, simply be honest with Him in prayer. Jesus is concerned only with how genuine your prayers are. So express your deepest thoughts and feelings to Him with the confidence that He hears you and cares. Whenever you have a concern weighing on your mind, turn to Jesus in prayer and ask Him to intervene to help. Beyond talking to Jesus in prayer, spend time listening to Jesus talking to you through His Spirit when you pray.

Grow closer to Jesus through the church. Find and participate in a Bible-believing church where you can grow spiritually through teachings and make use of your God-given gifts to serve others. As you grow closer to Jesus in church, keep reaching outward beyond the church to share your faith and resources with people who Jesus wants to draw to Himself through you.

Reach out to others who need relationships with Jesus. The Great Commission (Jesus’ command to communicate the Gospel message to all people) is for all Christians, not just some. Be faithful to do your part to evangelize and disciple others. Pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you, and you can count on help every step of the way. Keep in mind that you just need to faithfully follow what Jesus wants you to do, and He will do the work of actually converting people. So just do your best, and trust Jesus with the results. Model a Christian life for people by living with integrity and love. Make time to listen to people, pray for them, and help them with practical needs. Then, when you’ve built genuine friendships with them, share the Gospel’s simple message with them: Jesus died for people’s sins, was buried, and then resurrected so that everyone who trusts in Him can live forever with God. Share your personal testimony of faith with people, keeping the focus on how Jesus has changed your life, so people can think more about how He can change their lives. After people begin relationships with Jesus, help them mature in their faith. Get them connected to a healthy church, continue your friendship with them, and encourage them to continue the cycle of faith by evangelizing and discipling others.

Adapted from Let God Change Your Life: How to Know and Follow Jesus copyright 2011 by Greg Laurie. Published by David C. Cook, Colorado Springs, Co., http://www.davidccook.com/.

Worship Leaders, We Are Not Rock Stars

Rock stars are sexy. They stand on massive stages backed by incredible light shows while performing for people screaming out in worshipful adoration. They make great money, wear hip clothes, have rad tattoos, and get the best-looking women---all this for being able to write and perform music people enjoy.

This is the picture in many people's minds when they set out to be worship leaders, as a result of the emotionally driven celebrity culture we have created and modeled for them in the Western church. When a leader is talented and charismatic, we tend to blur the line between admiration and worship, between imitating them as they imitate Christ and substituting them for Christ. With music, this is all the more dangerous because we are dealing with a naturally emotional medium.

But emotions are not bad in and of themselves. They are quite useful in engaging us holistically in worship. Consider how Jonathan Edwards, the great theologian and pastor, put it:

I don't think ministers are to be blamed for raising the affections of their hearers too high, if that which they are affected with be only that which is worthy of affection, and their affections are not raised beyond the proportion to their importance, or worthiness of affection. I should think myself in the way of my duty to raise the affections of my hearers as high as possibly I can, provided that they are affected with nothing but truth, and with affections that are not disagreeable to the nature of what they are affected with.

It is the job of worship leaders to raise the affections of the people we lead to the highest possible height with the truth of the worthiness of God in our songs. And yet, while emotions are helpful handmaids of worship, the emotional and even sensual nature of music can make it difficult to know whether we are raising the affection of our hearers with the truth or simply the thrill of the song. We may go for the emotional jugular and completely fail to exalt the character, holiness, and majesty of God. The music becomes self-serving.

Prideful Platform
Perhaps the more common and deadly practice, however, is to use even the deepest truths of God to serve our own prideful pursuit of platform and prominence. Because we are in a culture that makes "Idols" out of men and women who can sing, people naturally put talented worship leaders in the rock-star limelight. This is a very tempting place to be as a worship leader, as that sort of public appreciation can be intoxicating.

Some years ago, I was beyond frustrated while serving in a church where I felt I was running on a hamster wheel. Week after week, I would "lead worship," but it never seemed to elicit the response I hoped for. The people stood bored, uninspired, and generally apathetic, hands in pockets and arms folded. I was rarely thanked or encouraged, and it seemed I was wasting my time.

At the same time, I would travel to lead worship for conferences and concerts where my band would be paid well, fed well, put up in nice hotels, and constantly thanked and praised for our great work. When we led worship, people raised their hands and voices and sang loudly. Afterward, we would sign autographs, sell CDs and T-shirts, and take pictures with our "biggest fans." I wanted more.

One day, in the middle of an argument with my wife over the whole thing, I shouted, "All I'm ever going to be is a local church worship leader!" As soon as I heard the words leave my mouth, the Holy Spirit began his work of conviction in me. He brought Ephesians 5:26-27 to mind to remind me that the church is the bride Christ gave himself up for, rather than a stepping stone for my own fame and glory. John 10 reminded me that the church are his sheep and they need a shepherd, not a rock star.

I was undone.

And then, because of his kindness, God used the wrecking ball of Psalm 46:10 to tear down the walls of strife I was experiencing from working toward the exaltation of the wrong name. Finally Ephesians 1 comforted me as an adopted son of God, who was purchased by the blood of Christ and blessed beyond comprehension.

Until that moment, I hadn't realized that I had been searching for worth in things that could not give it, for satisfaction in broken wells. I was subconsciously using people to find validation, trying to create a better identity than the one I had been given in Christ. When people didn't cooperate with my plans, I became frustrated with them, rather than humbly serving them as their pastor.

Okay Without Affirmation
I know many worship pastors are in the same boat. Many of us serve sacrificially, week after week, and are rarely noticed or applauded. We seek acceptance from the people we lead and serve, but instead we find grumbling and complaining rather than the affirmation our souls so eagerly desire.

This is not to say the grumbling and complaining or lack of encouragement is okay. This is to say that we are okay without affirmation.

We will never be more noticed, loved, cherished, accepted, validated, encouraged, and satisfied than we are in Christ. We will never have a greater identity than the one he has purchased for us on the cross. We are created in the image of God, bought with his blood, redeemed for his glory, adopted into his family, given an eternal inheritance, a new family, and the Holy Spirit to dwell in us!

We don't need people to raise their hands and sing loudly in corporate worship. We don't need to have them come to us after and tell us how great worship was. We don't need to grow our platform, have a well-read blog, go on tour, lead worship at the biggest conferences, or have the top-selling Christian album on iTunes. We don't have to be rock stars. We have Jesus. And Jesus is more than enough.

Stephen Miller is the worship leader at The Journey St Louis, an advocate for poverty victims as a Compassion International artist, and can be followed on Twitter.