If you read my post about my first skiing experience two weeks ago, you're probably waiting for the second part (or at least my impressions of the trip). I have some things to say about it!
We spend a whole day in the mountains and during the day my emotions varied from delight to panic, and I was trying so hard to come up with the recipe for success. Before and during skiing I worked hard on myself, my attitude, and at first, it seemed like it was working and I could actually enjoy skiing this time. In the afternoon I started feeling that something went wrong and I'm still scared and not enjoying anything. What could go wrong?
Every time going down the hill I started singing my favorite worship songs that comforted me. At some point, I realized that not only do I want to sing, I also want to pray. Closer to the end of our skiing I thought that all this time I tried to work on myself and my emotions using some psychological tools. I saw my problems and tried to solve them, and little by little I was cutting God out of the equation.
"Why would God care about it?" I thought. Maybe He would care about my ministry or my sins, but my skiing experience is probably irrelevant to Him. At some point, I started thinking, what if God actually cares? I started looking around and thinking how beautiful the snowy trees are, how great it feels to be sliding down in the snow, and how wonderful it is that God gave us the ability to see, feel, and experience this! Soon enough my thoughts were a mix of worship, prayer, admiration for God's creation, and the joy that you couldn't miss. I finally realized the obvious: the Creator Himself blessed me.
The fact that I learned how to ski better that day and learned the routes could also add to my excitement and confidence. I also got distracted which probably helped me be less nervous. Regardless, on my way back home I had two thoughts. One - I'm planning to go skiing again; second - Christianity is more than just a religion.
Sometimes we make a mistake seeing God from one side only. We can see Him as a holy Judge, or a wise Teacher, or an almighty Creator - and all of this is true. But we shouldn't forget that He's also a good Shepherd, a loving Father, a true Friend. These roles mean that God wants to have a personal relationship with us. The problem is that our religiosity doesn't let us build and develop it! Let's take a look at some basic Christian values that we often see wrongly.
Going to Church
Everyone knows that Christians are people who go to church on Sundays. You can go to church the way you go to school or to work: when you don't really want to but you still have to. You can go to church the way you go to a concert or a lecture: to watch, to enjoy, maybe to judge, and then leave. You can even see the church as personal growth training and learn something from it.
You can also go to church the way you go to visit a good friend or your parents' house. A place that will accept you the way you are, a place that always has good company, a place where you feel renewed and inspired, filled with love. A place that always has good food and living water. This is a relationship.
What should you do if you don't feel like that at all? Try joining a ministry. Try becoming a part of the Body of Christ, and then you will see people around you, you'll see "living stones". And they will see you. Small groups can also be a good first step in becoming a part of the church family.
Reading the Bible
Christians are supposed to read the Bible every day. Schoolchildren are supposed to read their Math book every day, then study it and even learn some things by heart. If you offer them a chance to get rid of it forever with no consequences most of them will do that immediately and never look back. We treat the Bible the same way sometimes: we read it because we have to.
You could read the Bible like it's a letter from your friend; like it's your parents' legacy; like it's a parting word from your favorite teacher. I can honestly add so many things to this list: a biography of a well-respected person, a family treasure, a collection of wisdom. The main point is, you can read it not just to get some information from it or to seem smart, but read it trying to absorb every word. Study the depths, get to know the Lord more, receive revelations.
How can you learn to read the Bible and enjoy it? There is so much advice, but here are some things that I consider important:
Find some time of the day when nothing is distracting you or rushing you;
Read in small chunks, but thoughtfully;
Try highlighting the main ideas and writing down interesting verses or ideas (the more you seek, the more you find!);
Build a reading habit, maybe use a Bible plan;
Pray that God would open the mysteries of His Word to you.
Prayer
The third pillar of Christianity. Honestly, it's hard for me to imagine how you can make prayer impersonal. I remembered when my sister was little (and not only her) before going to sleep she used to pray with the same words. They were her words but every time she was saying the same thing. Very soon she started praying without even thinking about what she is saying.
Imagine if you were talking to someone close to you using the same words every time! This doesn't look like a real relationship when you share things that are on your mind. Prayer is not a poem you say before going to sleep or your food, it's a conversation with your Creator, Father, Teacher. Yes, he knows the desires of your heart but it's so important to actually share them with Him!
I can't say that there is a right way to pray, but if it's not honest, not real, then your Christianity is not more than just a religion. If you don't feel that your prayer is a dialogue, if you don't feel like your words ever reach heaven, try telling Him your real thoughts and feelings. Then listen. Maybe for a few seconds, maybe for a few days or weeks. If you seek it and desire it, you will certainly hear a quiet voice in your heart that you will definitely recognize.
These points are the most basic and the most obvious about Christianity, but there are a few more that I want to mention here.
Ministry
You can work hard on a project not expecting anything in return, you can even build it in your church, but that doesn't necessarily mean that this project is your ministry. There is a difference between ambition and serving. A real ministry, inspired by a relationship with God, will be led by Him and will bring fruit. Most importantly it will be strengthening the Church and relationships within it.
Water Baptism
You can see water baptism as some kind of initiation rite needed to join the club. Sometimes people have different motives for this "rite". A real relationship with God gives you a desire to publicly make a covenant with Him, openly call Christ your Lord and Savior, promise to serve Him with good conscience.
Preaching the Gospel
I'm honestly not sure if people who don't have a personal relationship with God even preach the Gospel since it requires a lot of effort. Maybe we feel obligated to do that so we can invite someone to our church if they mention it. A personal relationship with God changes our thinking and lets us see people around us the way Jesus saw them. This vision fills our hearts with love and compassion and lights up a desire to share the good news.
The Way of Thinking
To sum everything up, I want to say that religion is very limited. Often religious Christians remain Christian within certain limits, sometimes they can even leave their shell if they want to.
Christianity built on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ permeates the heart and becomes an essential part of you. Recently on Instagram, I've seen a Christian blogger that was asked to not answer her questions from a Christian perspective. In response to that, she said that this is her only perspective and she can't "turn off" her Christian view because her whole way of thinking is built on it.
In the New Testament, the Jews were trying to deserve salvation by following the rules - by their religiosity. In Romans, Paul says that "Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone" (Rom. 9:31-32) By the stumbling stone he means Jesus Christ. He is the only way to heaven.
I can't say that Christianity is not a religion. According to the dictionary, it is. But if your Christianity doesn't include Christ, what is it all for?
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