Thoughts from the Daily Walk
I am a Christian. I believe that Jesus Christ is the divine, resurrected Son of God and the Savior of the world. I accept the necessity of His infinite and eternal Atonement. I have accepted the invitation to enter a covenant relationship with Him and to live His teachings the best I can each day.
But I am not always a good Christian. I stumble. I falter and fall. I backslide. I don't always live all the truth I know. Nobody does--not that I'm trying to use that as an excuse, but it reinforces, at least in my own mind, the absolute and inescapable need for a Savior.
I know many people who are better Christians than I am, my wife first and foremost among them. I try to surround myself with good people, and I find in my circle of associates many people more faithful, more dedicated, and more knowledgeable about spiritual things than myself. I try to learn from them whenever I can.
I readily acknowledge that there are good people among all faiths--and good people of no faith at all. I appreciate their commitment to the community and to the betterment of humanity. I seek to follow their example.
But I have to say this one thing: If you are not a Christian--if you do not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, if you do not read, ponder, and pray over the words of Christ, if you have not committed yourself to walk daily in His footsteps--then please do not presume to tell me how to live my own religion.
Specifically, please do not try to tell me that I'd be a better Christian if I supported your particular political and/or social agenda. Don’t try to tell me, “A good Christian would do {whatever}.”
Unless you are a Christian, you don’t really know what it means to be one, nor what “a good Christian would” really do. It isn’t something you learn from observation. It’s something you learn by doing. I know this from experience.
Walk the daily walk, and then you can talk the talk. Otherwise, you have no credibility and no qualifications to try to counsel me in my daily walk.
Why would I want advice from someone who doesn’t know as much as I do?
Above all, don't tell me what Jesus would do. Learning what Jesus would do, and then learning to do it, is the whole point of the daily walk. The way to know what Jesus would do: “If any man will do his [the Father's] will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” (John 7:17) Jesus Himself said that.
If you're not a Christian, how can you claim to know what Jesus would do? Or, in the words of Jesus Himself, “[H]ow knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?” (Mosiah 5:2)
At the heart of it all, Christianity isn’t about social justice or libertarianism or ‘tolerance’ or gun rights or race or gender or immigration or any of that. It’s not about politics. Christianity isn’t essentially about rules and regulations, nor even about codes of conduct.
At the heart of it all, Christianity is about developing a personal covenant relationship with Christ.
And if you don’t have a relationship like that, why would I want advice from you about mine?
But I am not always a good Christian. I stumble. I falter and fall. I backslide. I don't always live all the truth I know. Nobody does--not that I'm trying to use that as an excuse, but it reinforces, at least in my own mind, the absolute and inescapable need for a Savior.
I know many people who are better Christians than I am, my wife first and foremost among them. I try to surround myself with good people, and I find in my circle of associates many people more faithful, more dedicated, and more knowledgeable about spiritual things than myself. I try to learn from them whenever I can.
I readily acknowledge that there are good people among all faiths--and good people of no faith at all. I appreciate their commitment to the community and to the betterment of humanity. I seek to follow their example.
But I have to say this one thing: If you are not a Christian--if you do not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, if you do not read, ponder, and pray over the words of Christ, if you have not committed yourself to walk daily in His footsteps--then please do not presume to tell me how to live my own religion.
Specifically, please do not try to tell me that I'd be a better Christian if I supported your particular political and/or social agenda. Don’t try to tell me, “A good Christian would do {whatever}.”
Unless you are a Christian, you don’t really know what it means to be one, nor what “a good Christian would” really do. It isn’t something you learn from observation. It’s something you learn by doing. I know this from experience.
Walk the daily walk, and then you can talk the talk. Otherwise, you have no credibility and no qualifications to try to counsel me in my daily walk.
Why would I want advice from someone who doesn’t know as much as I do?
Above all, don't tell me what Jesus would do. Learning what Jesus would do, and then learning to do it, is the whole point of the daily walk. The way to know what Jesus would do: “If any man will do his [the Father's] will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” (John 7:17) Jesus Himself said that.
If you're not a Christian, how can you claim to know what Jesus would do? Or, in the words of Jesus Himself, “[H]ow knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?” (Mosiah 5:2)
At the heart of it all, Christianity isn’t about social justice or libertarianism or ‘tolerance’ or gun rights or race or gender or immigration or any of that. It’s not about politics. Christianity isn’t essentially about rules and regulations, nor even about codes of conduct.
At the heart of it all, Christianity is about developing a personal covenant relationship with Christ.
And if you don’t have a relationship like that, why would I want advice from you about mine?
posted by Michael at
3:25 PM
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