It's not easy to become a true Christian community. There are many hurdles. Even if people are growing spiritually, sin still manages to create problems between people. Old habits are not easy to overcome. New habits need to be learned and practiced. Sometimes it can be very discouraging. Some people give up too soon before they can experience true Christian community. What are the resources that can help us overcome?

An authentic Christian community is a place of grace where everyone and anyone can know and experience God together with others. This kind of community does not happen by accident. It is pursued and practiced intentionally by those who have been saved and are being saved by the grace of God. It requires consistency. But it also requires dependence upon God through the Holy Spirit, without whom authentic Christian community will not be possible.

Politics can be dirty. This is why some Christians don't want to be involved in politics. They say that the church should only be concerned with evangelism or discipleship, not with politics. But others argue that we must be involved. In fact, some are too involved already to the point that they forget they are Christians. How can we be involved in politics without losing our identity as Christians? The answer is simple but challenging. Get involved in a way that honors God. How do we do this?

Ongoing transformation is one of the spiritual blessings of our salvation in Christ. We can all be transformed into the image of Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit and the word of God in our hearts. However, this will not happen automatically. We must pay attention to God and to ourselves. Through proper discernment, we must learn how to reject what is evil and cooperate with God in bringing about what is good, pleasing, and perfect in His eyes.

Knowing who we are in Christ is crucial to our practice of Christianity every day. In other words, it is crucial to our spirituality. If we don't know who we are in Christ, we will easily be discouraged by our failures. Our enemy, Satan, will always tempt us to doubt God's love. He will always whisper deceiving thoughts in our ears and, if don't know how to take captive such thoughts, our hearts will be filled with desolation leading to our spiritual defeat.

We admire the people of Ukraine for their courage. They are fighting for their freedom. We must also do the same. But not merely for political or national freedom. We must fight for our true spiritual freedom. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Therefore, we cannot allow anyone or anything to rob us of our freedom in Christ. We must stand our ground and fight the good fight of faith.

We cannot live out the Christian life in a victorious way unless we are secure in our identity in Christ. This is the reason why Satan will always attack us in this very area of our spiritual lives. He will do everything in his power to make us doubt or question who we are and whose we are. If he can succeed in this attack, he will be able to defeat us. Our spiritual lives actually depend on our security in Christ.

Information is readily available today because of technology. Ideas are passed on from one person to another or sometimes to whole groups of people without proper evaluation or discernment. When they are religious in nature, they are even more destructive. Our ideas about God affect how we relate to Him. If we have wrong ideas, it will lead us into the wrong path. What we think we know or don't know can actually hurt us.

Politics is a hot topic these days. Should we even talk about it in church? Some believe that politics is of the world and the church should not waste its time talking about it. Others are very zealous about politics. They are very engaged and vocal about it. We can see it all over social media. But where do we strike the balance? We believe God is present everywhere. Politics is not off-limits to Him. But we must understand what the Bible says about politics so that we can get involved as Christians, and not like those who do not know God.

To be a Christian is to be a follower or disciple of Christ. It's not about going through rituals or religious activities as an end in themselves. Unless our whole lives are centered in Him, we will always be tempted to meet our needs elsewhere. Those who live their lives in Christ have centered their lives in Him and they have common characteristics.