Question from a Site Viewer
I don’t think I have ever been very religious. All I remember is going to church and having fun. I am currently fifteen years old and life scares me. I believe in God, however, there have been many questions without answers coming into my head. So my faith wanes. I want to believe in everything that the Bible says. I want to be like other Christians who deeply dedicate their lives to God. But, as much as I try, something keeps pulling me back. I used to go to church every Sunday. However, these days, church isn’t even on my mind. I used to be once a happy-go-lucky child, but nowadays, people say I look as if the devil has been in contact with me. Believing in God is hard. Sinning is easy. It’s easy to do whatever I want to do. My faith is weak and I want it to grow strong.
Tim’s Answer
Thank you for writing. Every thing meaningful in life is a choice. Certainly, there are things that happen to us about which we have no choice. But the way and degree to which those things ultimately impact our lives is our choice. We can choose life. We can choose death (Deuteronomy 30:19). Nearly every moment in life we are faced with this choice. What will we choose? As the Apostle Paul states so well in Romans 2:7-8, what we choose to seek is what we ultimately become (see also Romans 6:15-16). And you are so right. The natural inclination of humanity is to pursue the short-term interests of self which often involves ignoring the will of God, which is sin. That pursuit is easy, but ultimately leads to the loss of our souls. Solomon states this well in Ecclesiastes, where he explores the life of one given over to his own desires and finds it to be meaningless, a chasing of the wind. He concludes that to avoid the emptiness and futility of life, one should remember one’s Creator when young (Ecclesiastes 12:1). Thus, we want to choose Christ. But that momentary choice is only the entrance into life. It is a long process by which we are changed from fallen man to restored humanity. The process of transforming our lives into the full measure of created humanity requires us to put to death those desires in us that are evil and to clothe our new selves with the desires of a heavenly kingdom. Colossians 3 states this transformational process so well. And we will be tested along the way. God always tests the righteous (Psalm 11:5; Jeremiah 20:12). Even Jesus was tested. But when we persevere with patience, keeping our eyes on the goal set before us (to be like Jesus in our character), we both find Christ to be the joy of our lives and our own lives blessed by God in ways that we could never imagine. God is able to do more good for us than we could ever do for ourselves. And it is not that we are passive in life, waiting for God to act. Rather, we engage life fully, but in everything with prayer.
Accordingly, my encouragement to you is to seek Him (Matthew 6:33) and choose to love Him always. Cultivate a life walking in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16, 22-25). When you have sinned, repent immediately, knowing that every minute away from God is a moment lost to eternity. God is the father waiting for us to come back to Him, no matter how far we think we have fallen (Luke 15). Read the Bible, pray always, walk worthy of Christ, and serve others. You will be a true saint.
May the Spirit of our God be your everyday companion as you venture further in the journey of your life.
a fellow pilgrim,
tim