Richard Ellis Talks

Being a Christ-follower includes submitting to His calling for us to fish for others. We're His "bait" in the world, used for the purpose of attracting more people to Him, and we're the best kind of bait when our lives reflect the change that Jesus has made in us and lure those around us to His transformative love.

In every relationship, there are mountaintops and valleys. And when life gets tough, it's easy to feel like we've hit a "valley" in our relationship with God. Sooner or later, every one of us will likely come to the place where we're worn out and tired from our spiritual walk. In those seasons, it's critical to remember why we chose to be in relationship with Him in the first place, and continue walking forward with Him.

 

Next time you find yourself experiencing self-doubt or questioning your worth, remember this: before you were even born, God picked you to carry out His mission on earth. He's chosen each of us not only to spend eternity with Him, but to spread His Gospel to the world while we're here.

Scripture expresses the importance of gathering together as the family of God to encourage one another, help in times of trouble, and keep each other accountable. When we're not an active part of biblical community, we have a tendency to drift away from our relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and with God Himself. One of the best contributions we can make to the body of believers is to simply show up.

Scripture gives us the ultimate hope, that we as believers will experience a new heaven and a new earth with the Lord one day. Anyone who chooses to believe in Christ becomes a new creation, with the promise of a perfect eternity ahead.

It's "easy" to become a Christian and claim Christ as our Savior; the real struggle comes when we have to yield to Him as our Lord. Too often we profess that Jesus has saved us from our sins, but we refuse to relinquish control over our lives and instead we continue in bondage to our earthly desires. Only once we submit to Him will we experience the freedom that comes from surrender and that empowers us to grow more and more like Him.

The Bible tells us that when we're born again, we become a new creation; our old sin no longer has any hold on our lives. The problem? Sometimes, we miss our old sin. But when we learn to love Jesus more than we love the things of our past, He gives us the strength to walk forward in freedom and obedience to Him.

"The end" is inevitable -- both the end of our lives, and the end of this world. But we don't have to be troubled or live in fear of either. Jesus promised that He would come back one day, and we need to be prepared for His second coming. We can be ready by having a right relationship with Him, and live in hopeful expectation for the moment when we see our Savior face-to-face.

To quote C.S. Lewis, "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." Sometimes we get rundown and tired, and we need to take a "time out" to rest and recharge from the work of ministry. But God never gives us permission to quit. We might need a break every now and then, but we have to stay focused on our purpose of sharing the Gospel and making an eternal impact before our time on earth is up.

It's never easy to hear someone else call us out and tell us we're out of line -- but it's an important part of our spiritual and personal growth. When a godly friend points out an area in which we need to grow, we've got to have the spiritual maturity to humbly receive their rebuke. As Christians, we should strive to surround ourselves with people who encourage us towards Christ, even when that means calling out our sin in a loving and truthful way.