Walk With Jesus

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

(Colossians 2:6-7)

A few years after I was saved, I started to fall back into my old ways. The backsliding was subtle at first, but it wasn’t long before I was, at times, indistinguishable from an unbeliever. I had stopped being thankful for my salvation. I had some disappointments in finding a church that suited me and so gave up going to church altogether. Once I was no longer going to church it was easy to forego reading my Bible. Had I continued on that path, all my baptism would have been good for was to get wet.

I didn’t realize how bad it was getting until I finally found a good church, almost by accident, where I fit in. Fellowship and instruction in the Word were the food my soul needed. As I continued to attend, my faith was encouraged, rebuilt, and bolstered. I not only attended on Sundays but soon began going to a mid-week Bible study as well. These days, I’m there whenever the doors are opened. It’s my home and where I want to be. I know it was actually no accident at all. It was the Holy Spirit leading me to a place of spiritual nourishment.

If you have yet to find a church that sustains you, don’t give up on God, as I did for a while. Ask the Father to lead you to a good Bible preaching and teaching church and then attend every week. Regular fellowship with other believers helps to build you up in the Lord and keeps you on the path to a sound faith and a real relationship with Jesus. You cannot follow Jesus all by yourself. Hebrews 10:25 says not to forgo meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. 

As much as we need that, others we worship with every Sunday need the same encouragement. It’s not just the preachers job to do that. It’s our responsibility to build up our brothers and sisters. When we regularly attend services, fellowship times, and Bible studies, we build relationships with the people we worship with. We will learn if they are feeling down trodden about something and need to be encouraged. We don’t do this because we need them to like us, although we hope they do. It’s not to garner some kind of favor, there should be no recompense for a good deed. It’s simply because it’s what God wants us to do.

Father God, you are the king and creator of the universe. You gave Jesus Christ to an undeserving and unrepentant world, to provide the required blood atonement for our sin. Those of us who have accepted the offer of salvation, try to walk with you in righteousness every day. However, we are part of a world, where distractions are plentiful, and the reality of what you’ve done for us gets diluted in all the noise of our daily lives. Father give us a kick on the back side, so we won’t forget our first love. Don’t let us loose our zeal to share your gospel. Don’t let us become apathetic or discouraged when our friends and family reject your message. You have given us the best reason we’ve ever had to rejoice, even when we’re experiencing a difficult time in our lives. Lord bolster our faith and make us unshakable. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen!