The Bible for Women

Weekly Devotional

Christian Living

What is Christian living? What does it mean to live our lives according to the will of God and by the example of Christ? What does it mean to embrace God's grace? I would like to start with a quote from Brett Butler, professional baseball player and now manager of the Mobile Baybears in Mobile, Alabama, "..the most vibrant and real believers are those who put their relationship with Christ first and spend time every day reading the Bible, praying, and building each other up in faith."

We are all sinners. Christians are sinners. The difference between saved and unsaved sinners is God's grace given to us through the blood of Christ. So many times Christians do not fully accept the grace of God. They don't accept it for themselves, neither do they give it to others. Christian living is about putting our relationship with God first. Our relationship with God must be first and foremost on our hearts and in our minds daily. How do we build a relationship with God? We build that relationship by studying His word daily. We must read those words of our God and the words spoken by our Savior. The more we read the word of God, the more we hunger for it and the Word becomes necessary for nourishment.

In order for us to have a relationship with anyone, we must communicate with him or her. Our avenue of communication to God is through Christ in prayer. We must pray daily. We must pray about our day, about every decision. When we accept that God does have a plan for our lives and when we accept changes and trials with this attitude, we will receive that peace that passes all understanding. We will press forward with what life puts before us; we will press forward with what Satan puts before us with courage, because we know that God will fight for us. We know even in death that Paul reminds us, "to die is gain."

We need to edify one another. We need to encourage each other as fellow believers and we need to love one another. Are we going to hurt each other? Are we going to disappoint each other? Are we going to sin against each other? We are inevitably going to hurt a brother or sister in Christ at some point. We are going to hurt those who are outside the body at some point. We will sin against each other because we are sinners. Do we begin our day ready to sin against another brother or sister in Christ? Our thoughts and our minds are set on the cross at the beginning of our day, and yet sometimes we don't think before we speak, or we react instead of being proactive about a situation- and thus we sin. And that sin is wrong. As Christians, we must recognize our sin whether it be with a believer or unbeliever and repent. Unfortunately, even sometimes those in the body of Christ will not offer us the grace of Christ, but we must still repent and strive to do better. We must also work toward giving that mercy to others when they sin against us as God gives it so freely to us.

We need to work toward encouraging one another through Bible studies, through devotionals with other Christians, through our weekly worship and fellowship with other saints. We must share our lives with other Christians so that they can have the opportunity to help us and so that we can help others through our own experiences. We are called to tell others our stories, to give testimony to others about our faith. This is what brings others to Christ- telling them how Christ saved us in our own lives and why we need Him so much.

This is why the world needs Jesus- so that His blood can make us better, so His blood can wash us clean. Our relationship with Him will not keep us from Satan, but yet give us the tools to defeat Him. Satan does not want us to have a relationship with God, so he will put obstacles in our way that keep us from that relationship. We must do our part through reading the Word, talking to God daily, and edifying one another. By doing so, we will become true believers.

May God bless you this week. Margie