How do you practice being a Christian?

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BlessedLovedByGod

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So what about Christians? What level of actions reveal true Christian belief? Going to church every Sunday? Having joy in your heart and always being willing to share it? But sin can get in the way of virtue for even the best of people.

Instead of making this about judging the Christianity-level of others, I will ask you: if you identify as Christian at all, why do you? What level of commitment do you have to it? If you're not Christian, what level of belief/action makes you identify yourself however you do?
 
BlessedLovedByGod said:
So what about Christians? What level of actions reveal true Christian belief? Going to church every Sunday? Having joy in your heart and always being willing to share it? But sin can get in the way of virtue for even the best of people.

Instead of making this about judging the Christianity-level of others, I will ask you: if you identify as Christian at all, why do you? What level of commitment do you have to it? If you're not Christian, what level of belief/action makes you identify yourself however you do?
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A Christian means to be a follower of Christ. Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." Being a practicing Christian, the way I understand it, is putting Jesus in the center of your heart and keeping his commandments. Share the gospel with others, resist the temptation of sin, help others who need help, etc.
 
Your submission to Christ should manifest itself in your good works, spreading the Gospel with words if necessary. ;)
 
I guess I should clarify, the church things I do through the week and serving at church and praying and reading my bible are not what makes me a Christian. They are things I do because I am a Christian.
 
The Prayer of St. Francis answers this question perfectly and beautifully.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,Where there is hatred, let me sow love;Where there is injury, pardon;Where there is doubt, faith;Where there is despair, hope;Where there is darkness, light;Where there is sadness, joy.O Divine Master,grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;to be understood, as to understand;to be loved, as to love.For it is in giving that we receive.It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.Amen.
 
BlessedLovedByGod said:
So what about Christians? What level of actions reveal true Christian belief? Going to church every Sunday? Having joy in your heart and always being willing to share it? But sin can get in the way of virtue for even the best of people.

Instead of making this about judging the Christianity-level of others, I will ask you: if you identify as Christian at all, why do you? What level of commitment do you have to it? If you're not Christian, what level of belief/action makes you identify yourself however you do?
Click to expand...

That is a good question dear, more people should ask it. I will tell you. It’s very easy. You don’t have to change you diet, or run five miles a day. It started when you were being formed in the womb. One portion of flesh splits. One of those pieces becomes the brain, the other the heart. These two are joined for the rest of your life. This is a medical fact. Another medical fact: Your emotions are bound up in your heart,
The type thoughts you have feed the heart. Good thoughts, a good heart. Bad thoughts make a bad heart. The control is 100% yours.
That’s why if a married person keeps looking at other women, his thoughts will go from. “She looks good,” to “Wow, she is a fox,” to, “I wonder just how good that would be?” At that poin the is feeding bad thoughts to his heart. From there desire goes into motion. End results? Adultery.
All humans have bad thoughts every day. The key is learn to dismiss them.
Most of Gods laws are not there to punish you, they are there to safeguard you. Feed your heart good thoughts. If you get angry at somebody, forgive them. If you don’t, the anger will give birth to other bad thoughts about that person. Don’t’ fall into the trap of allowing bad thought to settle in your heart, and grow.
I hope this helps.
 
"And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love. And they'll know we are Christians by our love."
I remember that song from Sunday School when I was little. So how do we show our love? Kindness, understanding, compassion, encouragement. Spreading the Gospel, using words only if we have to. There's probably more to it but I think these are good basics from which to start.


 
Love to keep this in mind. Thank You for this:
Don’t’ fall into the trap of allowing bad thought to settle in your heart, and grow.

Domenic said:
That is a good question dear, more people should ask it. I will tell you. It’s very easy. You don’t have to change you diet, or run five miles a day. It started when you were being formed in the womb. One portion of flesh splits. One of those pieces becomes the brain, the other the heart. These two are joined for the rest of your life. This is a medical fact. Another medical fact: Your emotions are bound up in your heart,
The type thoughts you have feed the heart. Good thoughts, a good heart. Bad thoughts make a bad heart. The control is 100% yours.
That’s why if a married person keeps looking at other women, his thoughts will go from. “She looks good,” to “Wow, she is a fox,” to, “I wonder just how good that would be?” At that poin the is feeding bad thoughts to his heart. From there desire goes into motion. End results? Adultery.
All humans have bad thoughts every day. The key is learn to dismiss them.
Most of Gods laws are not there to punish you, they are there to safeguard you. Feed your heart good thoughts. If you get angry at somebody, forgive them. If you don’t, the anger will give birth to other bad thoughts about that person. Don’t’ fall into the trap of allowing bad thought to settle in your heart, and grow.
I hope this helps.
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First, I am a Christian, but to me that means following the triune God. God came to live in my heart, I have the Holy Ghost and that changed me so I live spiritually as well as physically. I go to Christ for cleansing and renewal. I praise the Father who created me and the world, yet I see these as one. God does this part.

But for what do I do to practice? I use the bible like a manual of operating instructions. It explains me and the world I live in, gives me how God operates it, and how I can best fit in.
 
Christ saved me and lives inside of me. it isn't so much about a level of Christianity for me but a relationship with Jesus that i work on to make stronger all of the time.

BlessedLovedByGod said:
So what about Christians? What level of actions reveal true Christian belief? Going to church every Sunday? Having joy in your heart and always being willing to share it? But sin can get in the way of virtue for even the best of people.

Instead of making this about judging the Christianity-level of others, I will ask you: if you identify as Christian at all, why do you? What level of commitment do you have to it? If you're not Christian, what level of belief/action makes you identify yourself however you do?
Click to expand...
 
BlessedLovedByGod said:
So what about Christians? What level of actions reveal true Christian belief? Going to church every Sunday? Having joy in your heart and always being willing to share it? But sin can get in the way of virtue for even the best of people.

Instead of making this about judging the Christianity-level of others, I will ask you: if you identify as Christian at all, why do you? What level of commitment do you have to it? If you're not Christian, what level of belief/action makes you identify yourself however you do?
Click to expand...

In my opinion the first thing would be to care more about what God thinks of your actions than what other Christians think. Human beings make lousy judges of what nitpicky rituals are correct for someone else's spiritual life.
 
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