Today I’d like to talk about a question I’ve heard get asked many times
And that is:
Is there more to christianity than going to church?
There’s this common misconception I hear among people when I ask them, do you believe in Jesus? Or are you a christian?
They automatically respond with:
“Yes, I go to church”
But my question was never: “do you go to church?” or “do you attend a meeting of believers?”
You see many people associate knowing Jesus with going to church, but that’s not what it means to know Jesus.
Church is an expression of Jesus and what christianity is, but christianity is not church.
Christianity is following Jesus Christ.
I would even say this:
That christianity is following Jesus and church is just the people that you follow Jesus with.
You see, christianity is a new way of living life in which you follow Jesus together as a church community, as people that love him.
What is Christianity really about?
If you’re only connection to Jesus is a church service that you gather with people once a week, then you’re missing out on all the glory that God has left for us to experience in following him.
And what is that glory?
The glory of the christian life is to see Jesus in our everyday life and in everything we do.
As we follow Jesus in every part of our life, we begin to see his kingdom and begin to bring it with us everywhere we go.
Where do we start on our search for more?
We start with getting to know Jesus. Christianity is simply knowing Jesus on an intimate level.
Not because it’s a requirement or it’s the right thing to do, but because you love him and want to grow in communion with him.
As you grow in him, you begin to hear him and experience the joy of knowing him. Soon he begins to lead you into the fullness of who he has created you to be.
How can we truly know Jesus?
The only way to truly know Jesus is to give yourself completely to him. That means you will have to give him more of your time and devotion.
If all you’re giving to God is a church service once a week, you’re really going to be drowning in your spiritual walk because you’re going to be dependent on others to feed you spiritually.
When you begin to spend time with him, to give your affection to him, and to give your mind to him, he begins to fill your mind with his thoughts and purposes for your life.
That’s because God’s desire for christian life is for him to possess you and fill you with the Holy spirit so that he can release the fruits/gifts of the spirit through your life.
For this to become a part of your every life and so that their would be no separation between you and God.
If you grew up in a divorced family, you know what separation looks like. It’s one of the most terrible things a child can experience.
Am I right?
Yet this is how many christians treat their relationship with God.
We just add God to a church service once a week and separate him from our everyday life, even though He is the source of life.
But that’s not how it should be…
God is the essence of life and has come to give us new life, a life that is lived in the spirit (Romans 8)
If you’ve believed in Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit in you. However, it’s up to you to allow the Holy Spirit to grow and nurture you.
It’s kind of like a plant.
You plant it, water it, and position it in the right place under sunlight to allow the plant to grow.
This is what we do in the christian life.
We come to him to enjoy him, experience him, read his word and have fellowship with him so that the life of the spirit may be alive in us. So that we would be the manifestation of Jesus in our generation.
There is so much more
If you’re hungry for more, God has set the table for you to dine and eat of him (the bread of life)
God has prepared so much glory, grace, and encounters for you (and for those around you) that he will reveal through your life as you begin to seek him.
He said seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened, ask and it will be given to you (Matthew 7:7)
Simply come to Jesus… and receive more. Spend time with him and he will show you what more is.
Hope you enjoyed the post
Now I want to hear from you:
What does it mean to live a christian life to you?
How has knowing Jesus impacted your life?
Leave a comment down below.
To see what we are missing, you need to study the New Testament Church. If you’re honest, you’ll find today’s Church to have very little resemblance to the Church we see in the scriptures. We have institutionalized, Americanized, democratized, neutralized and overall changed the entire purpose and function. Even the word for the body of Christ was changed from ecclesia,
meaning an assembly or a group of people called out for a peurpose, to kurios, which means Lord, and led to k-ir-k, and to ch-ur-ch. Th early church was a true community, an organism. They functioned according to their measure of faith, the spiritual gifting God imparted to each one. There were no programs, buildings, trained clergy, seminaries, Sunday schools, youth groups, worship bands, or even the New Testament itself. There is a reason that you will never find the term or concept of, ” going to church,” because they understood they were the church. The church now is a place that you go to on Sunday where you sit in rows facing forward looking at a raised platform with a pulpit where a professional cleric does all the ministry while you observe. It functions exactly like going to a movie or a concert. There is minimal, if any, participation, in the way of ministry one to another. I believe if the church had not strayed so far from her origins, no one would be asking, ” isn’t there more to Christianity? “
I like your comments on how to know Christ. The tips you gave were very mich deep and i have come to understand that i must do more with Jesus than just once s week church meeting. I want to know my savior on a deep and personal level and you hsve given me the tips to doing it. Today i started to get into the word and meditate on what Jesus id saying to me. With Jesus help i plan on spending time with him everyday to gettong to know Jesus.
I eant to know more about his love for us. I like what you said anout seeking him firdt and putting him first on our lives. I like what you said about one way to keep the devil away is to keep my mind on Jesus. When we get oir thoughtd on him. The evil onr can not use fear yo push us aeay from God. Meditate on the word of God.
You are right on point, Daniel! The more time we spend with our Lord, the better our overall outlook, and life will be. God wants to be an intimate part of our life, but so many people “save” time for Jesus for Sunday only. They are truly missing out. God bless you!