By Wayne D. Hannah
Blue Ridge Baptist Association
Director of MissionsThe Bible teaches us that as followers of Jesus Christ we are to develop a different kind of lifestyle.
Christ expects His disciples to live their lives in such a way that others would be able to see that there is something different in the way Christians live and act.The Blue Ridge Baptist Association several years ago adopted—as its mission statement—the Scripture passage of Hebrews 10:24-25. “Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24-25 NKJV)One lesson we learned from this passage is that from the very first years of the Christian faith, there were some who were claiming to be followers of Jesus Christ, yet not living up to that commitment.That reality is still true in our day and time.
One concern that Christ has laid on my heart is why there are so many names on church rolls that are inactive members. If one has truly accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior they are supposed to be NEW people in Christ. When Jesus said “Take up your cross and follow Me”, He expected His disciples to live a different kind of life.Some of the traits that should be in every Christian’s life should show themselves by our attitudes, our actions, and by our words.In the book “Seeing God in America” I came across the following words:John Donne, a seventeenth century English poet wrote: ‘no man is an island entirely of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main! However else that bit of verse might apply in today’s world, it is certainly true of the church of Jesus Christ. The New Testament letters tied believers together with numerous exhortations.In the Scripture passage quoted above from Hebrews 10:24-25, the author warned “stay at home believers” not to neglect our meeting together, as some people do, to encourage one another. Looking back over my years of preaching, the major theme has been the responsibility of living the kind of Christian life that would testify that one has been “born again” as Jesus said to Nicodemus –“you must be born again.” (John 3:7)The new birth for the Christian should be a change in the way life is to be lived. The New Testament teachings about the New Life or the New Birth, demand a totally different mindset. Jesus said, “Love one another,” and the apostle Paul returned to this theme time and time again. You cannot read the New Testament without encountering these demands. “Be devoted to one another
Live in harmony with one another.Accept one another.Instruct one another.Greet one another.Serve one another.Bear with one another.Forgive one another.”This is what the “new life” is all about—a changed way of living from the world’s attitude of “what’s mine is mine, and what’s yours should also be mine.” Taking up the cross of Christ is a new way of living, and a new attitude and outlook.Is it any wonder that Jesus would say, “If any man (meaning “any person”) will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”The most difficult part of following Christ is the denial of self. Yet, in the power of His love, and the Holy Spirit we can become a new person in Christ.May our churches have a revival of new life changing people in all our congregations.Note: Many of my thoughts were found in a devotional taken from the book “Seeing God in America” and from devotions in “100 Favorite Places” copyrighted 2015 by Thomas Nelson, publishers, Nashville, TN.
