Of what practical use?

Of what practical use is our Christianity in our day to day lives?  Does it really make a difference or is it really only an issue for down the road when we die, to make sure we go to Heaven?

That was a question that I began asking myself more than 25 years ago when we were members of another church.  It seemed like all of the adult Sunday School offerings focused on all of these deep religious and philosophical questions and being the pragmatic guy that I am, I was looking for ways  that my faith walk would impact my every day life. 

Well I mentioned this to the Christian Ed board and they said, "Great idea! Why don't you start a class."  Well here was an early test of my belief that when God calls, answer the call.  The idea scared the heck out of me.  I was not comfortable at all speaking in front of people or teaching or anything like that!

But I answered the call.  I prayed for guidance.  I went to the Christian bookstore and walked around asking God to guide me (and fully expecting Him to) to the books or resources I was going to need to teach the type of class that I believed He had put on my heart.  I had to depend on God each week as I prepared my lesson because I wanted to make sure that I was communicating what God wanted communicated.   I had to depend on God each Sunday morning to help me not puke because I was so nervous about speaking in front of people.

And your probably starting to think to yourselves "and what exactly does this have to do with the topic at hand?"

Good question.  I learned many things that were of practical use in my everyday life.  I learned to trust that God knew what He was doing even when it didn't make sense to me.  I learned to be obedient to God even when it was something that I didn't really want to do.  I learned that I could do things that I had never imagined myself doing, with God's help.  All of these things helped continue to build my faith in God. 

"Still sounds touchy feely to me, what about everyday life?"  Well it gave me the faith to follow God's guidance when He moved me to leave the comfort of being affiliated with a large corporation and go start my own business.  It gave me the faith to follow God's guidance to put our kids in Christian Schools when the family budget said there was no way.  It gave me the confidence to eventually start speaking in public professionally when I never could have imagined doing so years before.

My point is that your faith walk can have a very direct and exciting impact on your day to day lives.  It's not just about sometime in the future.  If you will just open yourself up to God's leading you will see things happen in your life that you never could have imagined. 

"Does that mean I am going to have a perfect life with no challenges?"  Oh, heck no.  You'll still have challenges, that's part of a growing dynamic life.  The difference is that you will have a partner helping to guide you through those challenges.

"And how do I open myself up to God's leading?"  Well first and foremost, if you haven't done so already, invite Jesus Christ into your heart to become the Lord and Savior of your life.  Secondly, get into God's word on a regular basis so that you can soak up His wisdom and knowledge.

Proverbs 8:17(NKJV)

17    I love those who love me,     And those who seek me diligently will find me.

Notice that it doesn't say "Some of those might or might not find me".  It says "those who seek me diligently WILL find me" 

So folks, enjoy the journey.  Diligently seek God and see how your life improves in ways you never could have imagined!