What I believe...

These are just some thoughts I shared with a friend.  I would be happy to hear your feedback/feelings.

I am still struggling with what it means to really live as a Christian.  It’s not easy.  There are a lot of times when I don’t want to live like a Christian.  Sometimes, I think it would be a lot better to just do whatever I feel like,  to not worry about all the ‘rules’ and to just live how I want to.  But deep down inside, I know in my heart that there is a God and that He is powerful, and that He is my creator, so that means that He is in control.  Because He is in control, I believe a) that He can do whatever He wants, and b) I should listen to him.  I believe that since He created me, He has the right to make the rules.  Whatever He says is the way it is.  I believe that if someone breaks His rules, then He has the right to punish them in whatever way He wants.  But I also believe that God is LOVE.  I believe that He loves me UNCONDITIONALLY.  I believe that He acts out of that love for MY good.  God doesn’t need me.  He doesn’t need me to be happy; he doesn’t need me to be sad or miserable.  My state in life has no affect on Him.  But I believe He loves me.  He WANTS me to have the best life possible.  Because of that, He acts.  He tells me what I should do to have the best life possible.  I believe that if He tells me these things, He sets out all of these ‘rules’ because HE KNOWS what is best for me.  He doesn’t have control issues.  He knows how life works; He knows the consequences to which my actions will lead.  He tells me through the bible the best way to get through it.  But BEST does not equal EASIEST.  Sometimes, best doesn’t equal most fun or enjoyable either.  So sometimes, even though I believe strongly that God is right and knows what He is talking about, I don’t listen, because I would rather have easy or fun.  God still loves me.  He is still going to help me get through life even if I don’t always listen to Him.  But, that doesn’t mean that I don’t deal with the consequences.  God wants to protect me from the consequences, but when I don’t accept the protection that He offers by listening to what He has ALREADY told me, I face the consequences.  It doesn’t mean God loves me less.  It means I didn’t accept His love.

If you don’t believe in God, if you don’t believe that He is who He says He is, if you don’t believe that following Him is best (not easiest or funnest) for your life, then fine.  If you don’t believe those things, there is NO POINT in trying to be a Christian because you will fail.  Being a Christian starts with these things.  It starts with understanding who God is, and who you are in relation to Him.  Once you do that, then you can start working on the whole Christian thing.  But if you really don’t think that following God is important, then don’t bother with any of the other stuff.