Common life style practices of devoted Christians
Introduction
You just had a significant religious experience and have come to believe in God. You understand Jesus to be the answer to the problems of your life. It is time to consider how your life will change as you move into you new life as a Christian. In short what behaviors make up the everyday life of a Christian?
Devoted Christians often engage in various practices that reflect their faith and commitment to their religious beliefs. Common life practices include:
1.Prayer: Regular personal and communal prayer, upon waking, at bedtime, before meals, during church services, in emergencies, to bless endeavors and for protection in danger. The prayer life of a Christian begins and ends each day with prayer. In addition, there are many times in occasions for prayer in between.
Morning prayer
For most Christians, the first prayer of the day begins before rising from bed. It might be as short as “Thank you Lord for the new day.“ I had a parishioner who began her day of prayer with, “Surprise me today, Lord.” Then, many Christians find a more extended time for prayer and Bible reading before or after breakfast.
ACTS
These times of prayer usually follow the acrostic outline of the word ACTS. A is for adoration. A Pentecostal, Pastor friend of mine used to begin all his prayers with, “Lord we love you today.”
C is for confession. Some Christians follow the daily devotional of the Daily Office. It begins with what is known as the general confession. We ask forgiveness for “The things we have done and left undone and thought were indeed against God and our neighbor.”. “
T is for Thanksgiving. Christian living, including daily prayer help us understand the grace of God that gives us everything from the air we breathe to the opportunities that lie and every day.
S is for supplication. Unfortunately, this is often the beginning, and the end of peoples prayers. These are the prayers that ask for help. Indeed, just the word help is a good prayer. We pray for our needs and wants and we pray for the needs and wants of others. These need not be selfish prayers we might consider, for example, the prayer of Solomon, who asked for wisdom.
Grace at meals
These prayers are also commonly known as Blessings. It can be short and formal. “Bless, oh Lord, this food to our use and use to thy service. Amen. (Amen is a sort of punctuation to prayer. That means “so be it“ ). Grace at meals can also be a time of communal prayer. Those who are gathered around the table often hold hands. The person saying, the prayer may also include a variety of supplications, reflecting the concerns of those present.
Church Services
Christian congregations gather on Sundays for communal worship. The chosen day has a reason. Choose as you may know worship on Saturdays, the day of creation when God rested. The church decided to move worship to Sunday as a weekly remembrance of the day of resurrection. Each week is a mini Easter.
In Sacramental traditions this worship always includes communion, or as it is formally known Eucharist. This is a remembrance of the last supper as well as the celebration of the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Jesus. These services are divided into two main sections. The first includes music, readings from the Bible, prayers of thanksgiving and supplication, and a sermon. The second part focuses on communion.
Other traditions reserve communion to to special times. This might be once a month or only once a year. They have a greater emphasis on music, both performance and congressional singing. There is usually a pastoral prayer and the sermon is most important.
Both traditions may have additional opportunities form corporate prayer. Sacramentalists will celebrate special days and occasions. Others often have a weekly Wednesday evening service.
Emergencies
There are many occasions in life, both small and great when prayer can be a great comfort and or a supplication for aid in the crisis. I am sometime asked to pray for the weather. I usually reply with some sense of humor, “I’m in sales not management.“ However, my late wife, Lily, would often pray for the weather with seemingly some success.
Once when the tail end of a hurricane was threatening, she asked me to join with her in a prayer walk around the church property. Perhaps coincidentally and perhaps because of the prayer, the few trees that fell over from the storm all fell away from our buildings.
Scoffers sometimes ridicule Christians for praying for things like a parking place. “Do you really think God cares if you get a good parking place? Sometimes I do think it just might be a part of God‘s greater plan for me to have one.
Blessing our endeavors
One of the churches I served was in the middle of an agricultural area. In a way, very similar to fishing boats being blessed before going out to catch. The congregation would gather once a year to bless the fields and the crops. This included blessing simple crosses that would be placed in each field. I came to understand how Farmers appreciate the hand of God and what they do. They till the field. They water, weed, protect, and fertilize. Beyond the rest is up to God.
Protection from danger
Obviously the world and life are full of all kinds of danger. Christians prayer for safe travel. We prayer for the military. We pray for our family and friends who do dangerous jobs.
The Lord includes the words “deliver us from evil.” The common Christian term is spiritual warfare. We read in the gospels how Jesus contented with the devil we must do the same. C.S.Lewis wisely told of two opposite conditions when it comes to the Devil and Demons. We should not, he said pay too much or to little attention to them.
2.Bible Reading: Daily or regular reading and studying of the Bible to understand God’s word and apply its teachings to their lives.
The Daily Office was mentioned above as an aid to regular prayer. It also includes a regular and thorough method for reading, meditating upon, and studying scripture. There is simple, yet effective way to study called The African Bible Study. It is simple g to consider three questions. What does it say. What does it mean? What does it mean to me?
You might find good classes at your church. One very thorough program is The Bethel Bible Study. There are 40 lessons for the Old Testament and another for the New. There is a lot of memorization. However, there are not verses but concepts to memorize. There are also many other ways to approach prayer and study together. Publications like Daily Guideposts and The Upper Room are popular.
3.Worship Services: Attending church services regularly, usually on Sundays, to worship, pray, and hear sermons.
This has been covered earlier under the heading of prayer. Here let us concentrate upon the the words attending and regular. Unfortunately many professing Christian’s are regular only because they attend on C and E (Christmas and Easter). They are missing out and much of Christian Life.
4.Sacraments: Participating in sacraments such as baptism and communion, which are seen as important rites in the Christian faith.
Earlier I distinguished between Sacramental and other denominations. Those churches that provide Communion each week believe there is real spiritual nourishment in the bread and wine. There are a variety of understandings of how that occurs. Some hold that they actually become Jesus Body and Blood. Others believe His presence is in them. Still other believe it is only a very important way to remember the Last Supper.
All Christians consider Baptism to be an essential initiation into the faith and into membership. There are as, you probably know, differences of opinion as to what age and how much water is appropriate.
Beyond these two sacraments there are five others practices more by some churches than others. These are confirmation, ordination, matrimony, private confession, and anointing of the sick.
Confirmation is practiced more in sacramental churches, especially those who baptize infants. Sometimes this is reserved to be administered by Bishops. It is an opportunity for the individual to make an adult confession of faith. It is also considered to be a time when the Holy Spirit is given as a power for ministry.
Ordination is the sacrament or ceremony to confer the position of pastoral authority. Each denomination or tradition has its own selection process to select and ordain clergy. There are also a variety of levels of ordination from deacon, to pastor or priest, to Bishop and higher to Arch Bishop and Pope.
Most Christians, even those who rarely attend, desire to be a part of the church for weddings and funerals. It is wise to welcome this participation to encourage further future participation.
Roman Catholics are known for the use of anointing as “last rights” administered just before or soon after death. However, anointing with oil is also used as part of healing ministry in general. Some churches reserve this as a sacrament for clergy use. Other encourage any member to use it as an aid to healing prayer. The oil in question is usually blessed by the Bishop (in denominations that have them.)
5.Community Involvement: Engaging in church community activities, such as small groups, Bible studies, and fellowship events.
The common life style of most Christians also center around the various community activities of the local church. This is known historically as Koinonia or more commonly Fellowship. These activities range from small groups, to dinner on the ground and pot luck suppers. They might include a parish work day to do extra maintenance of the buildings and groups. Seasonal parties and celebrations both sacred and secular are also popular.
6.Charity and Service: Volunteering and helping those in need, both within and outside their church community, as an expression of their faith and love for others.
Jesus told His followers to feed. The hungry, care for the poor, comfort the sick, and visit those in prison. He further said those who given even a cup of water to the poor are doing it to him! Therefor the church has historically been a leader in charitable causes. It is no accident that many hospitals have church names.
Methodist regularly proclaim and encourage members by saying we are Jesus’s hands and feet. Church history is full of those who care for the poor and sick. Mother Teresa of Calcutta is a well known example. However, one need not be a Saint to volunteer.
7.Moral and Ethical Living: Striving to live according to Christian morals and ethics, such as honesty, integrity, compassion, and forgiveness.
The Bible is full of moral teaching. Christians should know and follow the Ten Commandments.
Exodus 20 And God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Jesus summed this to just two. Love the Lord your God with you heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself.
A Christian can also find ethical guidance in the book of Proverbs. These wise saying have just enough chapters that they can be read once a day for a month. You might try it for a year to encourage wise and ethical behavior.
8.Evangelism: Sharing their faith with others and spreading the message of Christianity through conversations, missions, and outreach programs.
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
I like to say it is not necessary to teach evangelism. The word means Good News. If your Christian faith has been and is Good News for you who could stop you from sharing? I realize there are a variety of cultural reasons to make Christians hesitate to share their faith. However, there are ways to do so without offending, or “Bible bashing.”
The best way famously attributed to St Francis is to always be ready to share your faith and when necessary use words.
A similar suggestion is to wait until someone asks. If our lives truly reflect our faith people will notice. “How can you be so calm when…”
Another “method” is called Friendship Evangelism. It is summarized as Make a friend. Be a friend. Introduce you new friend to your friend Jesus.
9.Family Devotions: Conducting regular family devotions or prayer times to foster spiritual growth within the family.
The most important small group is our family. Christian parents can “raise up” their children in their Christian faith. Grace at meals, bedtime prayer, and regular church participation will ensure your children have every opportunity to become committed Christian adults.
10.Celebrating Christian Holidays: Observing religious holidays such as Christmas and Easter with special church services and personal reflections on their spiritual significance.
Some traditions follow a Church Calendar. Each year begins with the season of Advent. There are a number of spiritual practices that help prepare us to celebrate Christmas and consider the second coming of Christ in the future.
The second season is Christmas. It is not just a day. It is as most know from the song twelve days long.
Next comes Epiphany. The word means to reveal a hidden divinity. The church recalls the Star of Bethlehem and the coming of the wise men. The Bible passages of Jesus Baptism, miracles, and His Transfiguration are emphasizes.
Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent. During this time we are reminded of our mortality and prepare to remember the passion and crucifixtion of Jesus. Many Christians use this season for extra prayer, Bible Study, self sacrifice and service.
Next comes Easter and the Season of the Resurecrion when Chistians recall the several events of Jesus revealing Himself alive again.
Fifty days later comes the season of Pentecost which celebrates the out pouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and the birth of the church.
The last and longest season is simply called Ordinary time.
Conclusion
This has been an attempt at a helpful introduction to a Christian lifestyle. These are things you might expect to know about and do as you become involved with the church as a new participant. I hope by the time you read this a friend has helped you get connect and comfortable with your new faith.
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