People all over the world make the decision to follow Christ on a daily basis.
After making that decision, they are often faced with the same question.
Now what?
They know their lives have just changed.
They know their entire focus has shifted.
What troubles them is in knowing what to do next.
A number of years ago, I earned a degree in culinary arts.
I did so because I love cooking for others, and to be honest, I also love eating good food.
It was a great experience for me.
I learned more about food and how to prepare it properly than I had learned over decades of cooking at home.
I also learned quite a bit about how to cook safely, avoiding contamination that could lead to making myself and others ill.
When I walked off of that stage, diploma in hand, I was very aware of two things:
- It was a great feeling of accomplishment
- It was also only the beginning
Had I walked away from that school with my degree and never cooked again, what good would that have done anyone?
What if I only practiced the basics and never attempted to learn more?
Naturally, I would stagnate.
While nobody would be able to take that degree away from me, I would miss out on any benefit I might experience had I pushed myself to learn more and to hone my craft.
The Christian faith works very much the same way.
Although we can take no credit for being given that faith, it still feels like a bit of an accomplishment.
We've made a decision that nobody can ever take away from us.
And yet, it's only the beginning.
Even though I have a degree that says I know how to cook, I still follow recipes.
- I still own cookbooks, and I continue to buy more
- I still watch cooking shows
- I'll continually try to learn more from chefs who have far more experience than I
- I understand that I can learn just as much from someone who's also still learning as I can from a seasoned chef.
All it takes is to maintain a desire to get better
There are countless resources out there that can help us to grow in our faith.
We have opportunities - on a daily basis - to learn from others on how we can move forward.
Some teachers are very good.
Some, well, not so much.
But we can even learn much from the bad ones, as their teachings will eventually fall apart.
After all, if we follow a few recipes published by a bad cook, we'll know they're bad as soon as we taste what we've prepared.
Most importantly, we have three unfailing resources that will never steer us wrong.
- Jesus, who gave us a clear example of how to live and treat others
- The Holy Spirit, who teaches us truths we can feel down to our very souls
- The Bible - or in other words, the ultimate cookbook.
Making a commitment to Christ is not a one time event, it's a lifelong pursuit.
We will never be perfect in this.
The goal is to become more like Christ one day at a time, one hour at a time, one minute at a time.
It would be easy to become overwhelmed at the thought of committing the rest of our natural lives to anything, but that's not how we're supposed to look at it.
In the Lord's Prayer, we ask "give us this day our daily bread."
This is part of what that's all about.
We don't ask "make me perfect right now and for the rest of my life."
We're asking to be given what we need for now.
- for this day
- for this moment
While speaking about the needs any of us may face in the future, Jesus himself said:
"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. - Matthew 6:33-34
How much time have we all spent worrying about tomorrow?
Far more than we'd care to admit.
So, now what?
Seek first His kingdom, one day at a time, and let tomorrow worry about itself.
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