The Christian Walk

Many a times, we Christians are faced with diverse challenges that test our faith. More
often than not we fall for these temptations. It’s not easy living a righteous life. Frankly
speaking, even the bible says the path that leads to eternal life is narrow. It is thus
critical to understand how Christians should live. A life that not only God intended for us,
but also one that fulfils the desires of the spirit. One that shuns the desires of the flesh
which are always sinful.
In my walk as a Christian, I have fallen almost every time I try to live a righteous life. It’s
been a series of repentance, asking for forgiveness, sinning again and the cycle repeats
itself. I know many of us fall in this category and feel unworthy before the eyes of God.
But it Is normal given our human nature, a sinful nature. However, we are saved by the
grace of Jesus, if only we believe and stay true to him. Ask for his guidance in our day
to day activities, then our Christian walk will not only be a Christian walk, but also a
Godly walk.
Over the years I have been putting myself in circumstances that dampened my spirits.
My heart became heavy with the actions I got myself involved in, the thoughts my mind
conceived were marred with sinful desires. I felt filthy and unworthy. I looked at my life
and all I could see was a soul damned for eternal fire. In that spirit of hopelessness, I
once in a while tried to get myself out but every single time I fell back into the same pit.
One thing became clear to me. I was busy looking at myself to deliver me from the sinful
world I had gotten into, which ideally is the scenario most of us face. We tend to believe
that we are responsible getting ourselves from the mess we get ourselves into. This is
not the case though. In the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden
tree, they felt ashamed and hid from the presence of the lord. That was their way of
getting themselves from the trouble they had gotten into. That’s the mistake many of us
do. We hide from God when we fall short of His glory. Of importance is to recognize that
he gets us out of the mess we put ourselves in. He delivered our first parents and gave
them clothing to cover their nakedness. He got them out of their mess. It is therefore
important to stress the need to ask God to deliver us from the mess we put ourselves
into.
When I was a class four kid, about 10years of age, I broke a bulb at our house. Back in
the days, getting a beating for the mistakes we committed from our parents was
inevitable. That fear drove me to run away from home and go to my uncle’s place in
Kibera. That day is vivid in my mind as an ordeal that happened yesterday. I knew my
dad would give me a heck of a beating that night when he came home from work and so
the only way out was to run away. I wore my best clothes, I remember it was pair of
yellow jeans, yeah yellow. I know how that sounds. Some of you might ask me, “how do
you wear a pair of yellow jean?” Well, it was what my parents had gotten me and I
cherished it. So on this day I put it on and walked all the way to Kibera from Indutsrial
Area. It was quite a walk but it was worth it. At least that’s what I told myself, better
running away than getting a beating.
When I got to my uncle’s place, he was stunned because I got there at sunset. It was
still a weekday and I still had to go to school the following day so my being there
somehow made him concerned. I then told him what I had done and he promised to talk
to my dad. The following day my dad came over and took me home. To cut the story
short, I never got the beating. this was my way of escaping from trouble that day. To run
away and not face the consequence of my actions. Maybe if I stayed and tried to
explain to my father what transpired he would have forgiven me. But instead, I chose to
run, to hid. It’s the same thing Adam and Eve did. They hid themselves from the
presence of God. God desires that we come to him as we are. Present our prayers,
needs and supplications to him honestly and genuinely. After all, He is the one that
made us. He tells Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” Jeremiah
1:5. That is the God we serve, a God that knows us even before he created us. He
knows the number of hairs on our heads. There’s nothing that we can hide from him.
In this modern time and age, the life Christians live is quite hypocritical. The bible in
Matthew 15:7-8 states, “You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” I consider myself
as the chief hypocrite. We pretend to be holy and righteous in the eyes of men
forgetting that God looks at the heart. How many times do we look at someone
grudgingly, someone we don’t even know just because he or she has nice shoes than
us? Let’s face it, countless times. How many times do we put other things first in our
lives instead of God? Lemme guess, some of us didn’t even take a minute to thank God
for waking us up this morning. It’s true, I too didn’t. I feel guilty about it but ask God for
forgiveness. Ask for His spirit to be my guide. The Holy Spirit is the part of the Godhead
that we have been given in these last days. He ought to be our confidant, out guide, our
best friend, our lover. I was reading this book by Pastor Benny Hinn, “Good Morning
Holy Spirit” in which he writes of his encounter with the Holy Spirit. He gives an account
of how every day he begins his day by uttering those words the moment he wakes up. I
am not saying he is a perfect Christian, but he is a perfect example that we ought to at
least emulate. Let God be the first idea that pops up in our minds when we wake up and
the last idea when we got to bed at night.
As a Christian, many will judge you by your actions. The moment you say you are a
Christian, expect questions like, So, do you pray every day? Do You Pray and Fast? Do
you keep th ten commandments? Many people associate Christians with a sense of
perfection such that when you even fall at one point, you are deemed a false Christian.
These should not trouble you as long as you know the relationship you have with God.
People normally see what their eyes allows them to, but God sees everything.
Therefore, live for him and not for others. Don’t try so hard to please others by leading a
complicated life. A Christian life is a simple life. Jesus Christ himself led a simple life in
his time on earth. He did not show others that he was the Son of God, No. He let the
spirit reveal it to the people. He was a humble servant. As Christ lived, so should we.
We are to follow His footsteps and be glorified in His name. as Christians, Christ should
be our sole teacher in our Christian walk. The bible teaches us of Him and it is essential
that we edify our souls with His word. His word if food for the spirit. And the more we
feed the spirit of the word of God, the more we become strong in our Christian walk. We
become faithful followers of Jesus Christ.
Christians have been given a herculean task of being the light of the world. The salt of
the earth. Given this profound responsibility it suggests the nature of our being in Christ
as a necessity that must be meet. We therefore must first be conformed into his
likeness in order for us to instill the faith into others. For one cannot give that which he
does not have. The bible is very clear about the knowledge Christians are supposed to
preach to the earth. Repentance and calling back the souls to their maker. In as much
as everyone wants to be blessed and prosper in life, let’s be categorical as to what
should drive us to church. Christian church that preaches only good tidings that are
going to come your way when you come to Christ is out of line. God clears tells us in the
book of Revelation that those who believe in Him and become baptized should expect
tribulation. We are to go through what Christ himself went through. A bible scholar will
clearly explain to you that all of those people who preached about the true religion were
persecuted. Why then would it be different in these last days?
All the prophets of God went through hardships in their ministries. In the New
Testament, Jesus himself was rejected in his home, Matthew 13:57, and later crucified.
Stephen was stoned to death. Paul was killed and buried upside-down. All these
however should give Christians joy and hope knowing that they are treading the right
path. We ought to rejoice in tribulation as it prepares us for the Kingdom of God which is
at hand. The bible tells us that when we see these things happening, we should know
that the end is indeed very near.
God intends for his children to live a peaceful life. But the earth is corrupted by the devil.
He has made the earth his dwelling place and therefore those who truly and earnestly
seek Christ will suffer. Christianity is not a walk in the park. In the narrow path, one will
face numerous challenges and temptations. These are however not supposed to shake
our faith. God provides for us ways to overcome temptations. He clearly states in .. that
he is faithful and does not allow us to be tempted beyond which we cannot manage.
That gives me hope and reason to rejoice. God already has a way out for any
temptation thrown at me by the devil. How gracious is He who lives forever? The eternal
Father.
I was watching a certain show on Youtube called Relationship Goals. What it taught me
is that first and foremost we need to have a relationship with our God before anything
else. Our God is a jealous God. Jealous in a good way of course. I mean, if it were you,
how would you feel if something you made gives its allegiance to someone else? It
would break your heart and crush your spirit, would it? That’s why in the book of
Matthew…Jesus says that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. God is
a loving and forgiving God. But how can he forgive you when you have shifted your
allegiance to another?