Live Now Live Later

As of now, It has been 19 years since I started following Christ. Man times flies. Highs and lows along the way. Times that bring about a smile and other times I’m ashamed of. If I could go back and give advice to myself at the age of 21 it would probably be along these lines:

1. Don’t get caught up in making prayer some sort of “super spiritualized” ritual. Drop the king James accent bro. God knows you weren’t born in the 1600’s. Don’t try to focus on making prayer a certain time length. Just pray whenever and however for how long ever. Jesus is always listening and he wants to tell you some things too.

2. Don’t make the first place you start reading the bible be in the book of Leviticus lol. Go through and through the new testament and work your way back through the old testament. Might make more sense that way.

3. Always remember when studying the bible that the New testament in particular contains 27 LETTERS. It’s not a “quote book”. Steer away from taking the approach “what does this mean to me” but instead ” what is God WHO inspired the author of this letter trying to get across”. NEVER base a complete MAJOR bible belief based on an “isolated scripture” you find somewhere. Also NEVER FORGET that EVERY letter is written to CHRISTIANS and NOT people in the world.

4. Don’t get upset, sad, and confused when people tell you you’re taking Christianity too SERIOUS. MANY MANY people throughout the centuries since Christ’s ascension have been KILLED because of this, so you can never take it serious enough. Preachers aren’t the only ones who are supposed to take this serious.

5. When sharing the gospel, you might not want to mention Hell within the first 5 words of a Conversation. They might not talk with you very long lol. So it would be best to maybe wait until the 6th word 😉

6. Be patient with yourself and others. The Apostle Paul didn’t get to the level we saw him at the end of his life over night. The Christian life is a life of stages. Just like you have grown physically since you were born, you will see spiritual growth over time as well.

7. Find other believers who you can confide your struggles with temptations, sins or whatever else. Never be to afraid to share what your struggling with no matter how long you’ve been following Christ. This is one of the main reasons God has commanded us “to not forsake gathering with other Christians on a regular basis (Hebrews 10:24-25)”

8. Respect Christian leaders and what God has and is doing in their lives but NEVER elevate them to such a level where you have more reverence for them and their teachings than God.

9. Whatever you see very popular in the world, even if you see professing Christians going that direction too, use God’s word and the Holy Spirit as the determining factor and not your feelings.

10. Never look down on people who choose to not follow Christ and remain in a life of sin because you too were once like that and could care less about Jesus or anything pertaining to Christianity.

11. Not if but when things start to get rough and you find yourself going through the “why me?” Syndrome. Always remember that there are Christians all over the world who would gladly switch to be in your shoes. Experiencing far more SEVERE persecution, lack of food or water, health issues, horribly bad living conditions compared to “American Standards” and many other things.

12. Lastly, Always remember the Christian Life is a race. Jesus got you started and He’s at the end waiting. Don’t allow anything this world has to offer keep you from finishing. After its all over, you’ll look back with Jesus and know without a doubt it was so worth it.