Struggling Through Life?

Do you find yourself struggling through every day of your life? Maybe feeling like you really didn’t sign-on for all the problems and difficulties you encounter daily? Perhaps thinking all this should’ve left me when I surrendered my life to Jesus as my personal LORD and Savior?

Perhaps you haven’t truly “surrendered” your life to Jesus? Perhaps you have never been taught what it means to be a true follower of Christ? Unfortunately, churches are full of individuals just like that; those who respond to an invitation call, pray a prayer of repentance and for forgiveness of sins and it ends there.

The fact is, your new life started there, but no one took you any further, no one showed you the next step. It’s not your fault, churches have been failing new converts in this way for a long time and for that I am very sorry. It grieves me to see the number of baby Christians running around churches today.

In Mark 8:34-36, Jesus summoned “the crowd along with His disciples, He said to them, If anyone wants to be My follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me and the gospel will save it. For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his life?” (HCSB).

Being a follower of Christ involves a maturing process. Too often, I see churches filled with baby Christians; those who have been saved for a very long time. However, due to a lack of proper training in the Word, their Christian maturity level remains childlike. Jesus summons new converts to become “followers” by denying self, taking up the cross and truly walking in His footsteps; becoming Christlike in all your ways.

Doing so seems like it would create more struggles for your life. But when you choose to follow the path of Christ, you learn to take your eyes off of this world, you set your sights on things with eternal value. You find the cares and problems of this world loose their blow as you begin to walk by faith and follow a path of righteous living; allowing Jesus to direct your steps along the way.

As you learn to walk by the Spirit you find yourself being led by the Spirit and discovering your life is producing the fruit of the Spirit rather than the works of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16-26). You will discover you are no longer struggling through life because Jesus has truly become LORD of your life.

As your life becomes more into tied into Him, you will find victory over the struggles and problems as you begin to proclaim: “Greater is He that is in you, than He that is in the world” (1 John 4:4) over your life.