ARE YOU LIVING OUT YOUR FAITH THE WRONG WAY?

Ever since I was a kid I have had the idea that if I want to be the best kind of Christian, I have to be a pastor, missionary, or evangelist. And if I am not one of those, I at least need to do the kinds of things they do as often as I can in order to practice my faith the way God wants.

I talk to a lot of Christians who feel this way. For whatever reason, we think doing "spiritual" works makes us good Christians. We realize that we can't earn our salvation through works; it is by God's grace alone and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that we have the hope of salvation and eternal life. Yet, we still feel we need to be spiritual in order to please God. We envision carrying our Bibles around all the time and talking to everyone we meet about Jesus. We probably will not actually do those things but still think that if we did we would be better Christians.

HOW DO YOU SPIRITUALLY PREPARE FOR A NEW CHAPTER IN LIFE?

Earlier this week someone asked me about what I do to prepare spiritually for a deployment. I think he was looking for a profound answer or some three step program. But as I thought about how to answer his question I realized that my response was more of a "back to basics" kind of idea. It isn't anything complex or deep but it is vital for a Christian's everyday life and for anyone going on deployment or any other kind of life adjustment.