Several weeks ago, I wrote a letter to some friends of mine who had recently become Christians. The purpose of the letter was that I wanted to put into writing some of the basic practices within Christianity for them. Basically, it was an attempt to answer the question, “Ok, I’m a Christian. Now what?” Well, after I wrote the letter, I thought to myself, “Maybe these things would be good for lots of people at Good News to hear” instead of limiting the message to just the few people I sent it to.

So, I’ve adapted that letter (mostly by cutting out the personal stuff) and am now sending it to all of you Goodnewsians. If you are new to Christianity, I hope my advice on these five issues will be helpful to you. And even if you’ve been a Christian for a long time, maybe some of these will serve as a helpful reminder:

1. Living By The Spirit And Listening To Your Conscience

   One thing I think that is important, when it comes to Christianity, is to realize the relational factor between you and God. That is, Christianity isn’t just a list of rules that people who believe the Bible follow. Christianity is the name we give to the religion that involves trusting in and loving Jesus. This involves living by His Holy Spirit, who lives inside of you. It’s not simply a system or lifestyle... it’s a relationship. So, the Bible says to be led by the Spirit (see Galatians 5:16-6:10). The Bible also talks about something you have called a “conscience.” I don’t fully understand how the Holy Spirit and your conscience work together, but I just wanted to point out that your conscience is something that you should listen to, especially now that you are a Christian. If something feels wrong, that’s a great reason to hesitate. If you feel compelled to do the “right” thing, go for it. If you don’t know what to do, pray that God would lead you by His Spirit.

2. Pray

   This makes sense considering what I just said in the paragraph above. You are in a relationship with God. He is, among other things, your Father in Heaven. So start talking to Him. Prayer doesn’t need to be formal or fancy. You can talk to God like you would talk to a person - well, also factor in that He created the whole universe and saved you... there’s a respect for Him you wouldn’t have for regular people — but I’m saying you can use regular words and talk in regular ways. Whether you set aside a particular time (ex: praying every morning when you get up) or whether you pray lots of times throughout the day (ex: “Ok, God, I don’t know what to do about this, please help me”) just pray. I think it’s good to set aside some time to pray to God. Even if you start out by only praying for a couple of minutes, start somewhere.

3. Reading The Bible

   I believe reading the Bible is an important part of “listening” to God. That is, God leads us by His Spirit, and we talk to Him by praying, but the Bible is a black-and-white set of words that he specifically had written down for us to know Him and to live by. So, get a Bible that is translated into modern English (I can give you one on Sunday at one of our church services if you don’t own one... I’ve got a whole box of them). I know you may start reading it and say, “This makes sense when the pastor teaches it on Sundays, but I have no chance of understanding it on my own!” In fact, some of you have said that kind of thing to me. I understand how you feel. But, it doesn’t have to stay that way. Here are my suggestions about Bible reading.

   • Pick a book of the Bible and start reading. Start with the book of John or Mark. They are ancient biographies about Jesus.
   • Read a little bit at a time. Start with whatever amount feels comfortable.
   • When you come across a section that you don’t understand, don’t freak out. Just mark it (you can highlight it, or underline it, or whatever) and hope that you will understand it someday down the road.
   • Even if you end up highlighting whole paragraphs, or half a page, just keep going. You will quickly figure out that you aren’t underlining EVERYTHING. That is, you are understanding SOME of it. You are not wasting your time.
   • As time goes on, you may figure out what your highlighted sections mean. Perhaps you can pray about them and God will show you. Maybe one day in the future you will be able to go back and re-read Mark or John and you will think to yourself, “Wow. Not only do I still understand all the parts that I didn’t have to underline the first time, but I even understand some of these underlined sections now! Not all of them, but some of them make more sense to me now that I’m going back through it a second time.”
   • Another good reason for underlining/highlighting is that you can easily find those passages and then ask your pastor, community group leader, or some other trustworthy Christian about them. There is nothing wrong with seeking help in this area.

   I am not pressuring you to become a Bible scholar overnight. I just wanted you to know that you can do this, and if for some reason I were to die tomorrow and you could never hear my sermons again, you would still be OK. You can know God and His book better and better, and you won’t have to be dependent on me forever.

4. Join A Group

   I think this is a big deal. I’m sure we’ve all heard stories where someone became a Christian, and things were exciting and fresh for a while. Their life seemed to change for the better, but the change was short-lived. Before long, they were back to living kinda’ like the way they did before they ever accepted Jesus. I think one of the major causes of this is when people become Christians, but then basically try to do it on their own. But when you read the Bible, you’ll see that God didn’t really design things to work that way. In Hebrews chapter 10 the Bible says, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another...” I can’t tell you how important I think it is that you all join a Good News community group. Having Christian friends that you meet with regularly is an important part of the Christian life. You need to have people who are praying for you and are there for you when you need help. (And you need to have some people who you pray for and who you help.)

5. Serve God With Your Life

   Lastly, and most importantly, remember that you were created by God for God. Live your everyday life for His honor. This will look different for each of you, and it will change over the course of your life. This might mean that you volunteer to serve at a church. This might mean you work hard at your job where you are one of the few people at your place of work who is working for God and not just your human boss. This may mean being a missionary, serving the poor, being a community group leader, helping your next-door neighbor, inviting people to come to know Jesus, and/or raising your child in a godly way. Each life lived for God looks different. So, I can’t give you all the specifics. But I think if you are being led by the Spirit, praying to God, understanding His word, and involved in a group, you will be able to figure out what living for God looks like for YOU.