Crucified Life

No longer I, but Christ who lives in me.

[noah-axel]

The Forgotten and Unseen Heart

What is the forgotten and unseen heart. Is it yours? Maybe a person you know? Do you feel unseen and forgotten? Many of us do, but the heart I speak of is one far greater. It is the heart of our own Father in heaven who’s heart has been completely forgotten and unnoticed. Not just in our current generation, but since the time of creation. Out of all the millions and billions of people he ever fashioned into existence, only a small group ever knew the Lord’s heart and continued to bring it forth from generation to generation. The same is true even today.

Though I may not be the most experienced theologian or some highly esteemed pastor of a large church, I have seen the heart of God pushed aside for the sake of what we call church. 

Though I understand the difficulty of running a big church (having worked in one), I have seen time and time again, decisions be made based on the direction and calling of the CHURCH and not the HEART of our God. This is not to bash on or blame the church, but to bring about an issue that we must face.

I have seen people fired and churches struggle all because they were trying to do what was best for the church. The problem is that they are going with what would bring about “growth” and success, yet this is not what God has within his heart. Yes, he calls us to go forth and make disciples of all nations, but that is not the ultimate intention of God’s heart. If you’ve read the entire bible, you will know that God has a desire for his people, but most importantly his Son. Not just the physical manifestation of his Son (Jesus), but the nature and heart of his son. 

A pastor may have a true heart for the church and for people to know God in a real and authentic way, but because he is insufficient at keeping the numbers up, he will be let go for the sake of the ministry and church. The issue with this is that it in no way considers the Father’s heart.

Now, if the Father’s heart was considered and this still was the calling, then Amen (So be it), but this is not often the case. The Father will always desire that his son’s heart be brought forth, as this is what he finds joy and pleasantry in. 

Let us not neglect the HEART of our God! He doesn’t desire a growing, healthy, perfect church where everyone gets along and shares all the same views. He desires that His Son be expressed in and through us to the Father by abiding in his life. He doesn’t care about the numbers or popularity of a church. He cares about his son and his son in us. 

Let us continue to live in a such a way that we push aside a desire to “succeed” as a church, but instead express the truth of what God intended in church--that we be a body that is WITH Him in a real and living way through the crucified living of our savior, Jesus Christ. 

[noah-axel]

What is it that your “faith” and “Christianity” is defined by? Our perspectives, opinions, and ideologies are all defined by something, and when we truly see what that is, we begin to see what or who truly has control over our lives. The beauty of knowing and seeing Christ by his nature is that those issues dissipate. We are no longer focused on how to act, what opinion or perspective we need to have based on the theology of our church, or the law we see and adopt in the Bible; instead we begin to identify in Him. He becomes the life. There is absolutely nothing else we are concerned with because we have become engrossed within the completely satisfying nature of Christ. The issues, troubles, and insecurities; as well as the successes, victories, and blessings become a thing we push aside so we can be in the communion between the Father, Son, and Spirit. Our lives are defined by nothing else but the crucified nature and life that we have as sons and daughters in Christ Jesus--IN HIM.  

[noah-axel]

When I came across this verse, I couldn’t help but see the pain we create in the heart of our Father. In fact, as you begin to see the aching and longing heart of the Father for his people, there begins to be a greater clarity of the Bible and of our God. By no means would I ever claim to have any perfect clarity of our God, but instead that we begin to see him as he desires us to see him. 

Throughout Ezekiel we see this “punishment” towards God’s people. In fact, we see this type of act throughout the Bible whether by captivity, famine, or any other terrible circumstance. Now it is easy to see this as a “punishment” for God’s people and their inability to obey and follow his statutes (Ezk. 11:20), but even greater is what lies behind the curtain (or veil). A desire. Not just for us to follow his rules, but to BE his people.

You see, his rules aren’t there for us to blindly follow without understanding or intent (like a zombie following a juicy brain), but they are a guide (teacher) that helps us to understand and see the nature and heart of our God. We shouldn’t see the law and be satisfied--for not even God was satisfied by law itself. He desired (and still desires) a union between himself and his people.

How beautifully simple is it, that our Father--our God, would desire above anything else for a people to be made one in Him. To know him as life and not law. To see him face to face rather than by the works of his hands. That we have a God who doesn’t just tell us how to be good and get to heaven some day, but a God who placed heaven inside of us as we are made one in perfect communion with our God.

Therefore, as we read through Ezekiel 6:9 again, we begin to see this heart of God that simply desires to be one. That they would be his people and he would be their God. That they’d stop whoring after other things and other idols, but instead that they would see him as he is. 

[noah-axel]

[noah-axel]

We are called to have TUNNEL VISION. A singular focus.

Far too often we find ourselves looking to a million different things, side tracked and pulled away from the thing that really matters. As Christians, and truly, as those who love the Lord and desire him above anything else--even ourselves, this is what we are to be conformed to through the grace and patience of the Holy Spirit.

As we know from scripture, Jesus only did what he saw the Father doing. A perfect example of this TUNNEL vision, looking to the one person (God) as his life and sufficiency. 

As we go about our daily business in the non-stop rotations of this world, we must come to love the Lord so deeply and intimately that he becomes the only one we see.

When faced with a difficult situation or circumstance, we don’t look to ourselves for answers, ideas, or direction, but we simply look to the one who gives life and life abundantly. A life that comes forth from a death found in the Son, whom we we’re joined into and raised with.

We are complete in Him, therefore, let us seek to narrow our vision, ignoring the ever growing waves crashing around us; and be encouraged by the Son, in whom we have union and life.

[noah-axel]

In John chapter 8, we see a beautiful story that displays the perfect love and nature of Christ in action. Now, mind you, it isn’t the thing he does that makes this story beautiful, but the heart that is expressed that makes it memorable and eternal. A woman is caught in the act of adultery, which should quite obviously raise a couple questions like; where is the man (since there’s to sides to this sin) and what were the Pharisees having to do in order to catch the two people “in the act” of adultery? These are important to notice, but they’re not the focus of what I want to share right now. 

If you’ve heard this story before, you know that the Pharisees ask Jesus about the law, and what should be done according to the law which had been placed by God himself. They go on to explain that she should be stoned according to the law. They then ask Jesus, “So what do you say?” This is where things get real! 

While this woman sits in the midst of the crowd, Jesus doesn’t make a decree about how she sinned or make a big show of things. He doesn’t yell out that he is God and has the power to do and to will whatever he so desires. He does something that has more value than words could express. He goes down to the ground, meeting the woman where she is. Now, theologians have more than attempted to guess what Jesus wrote down in the ground that day, but the truth is, we’ll never know. He could have drawn a picture or written down words. Either way, his act of going down without a word is more significant than I can even describe. Most English majors would call this a foreshadow of what is to come (the cross), but truth be told, Jesus’ heart will always go down and bring about life for the one drowning in their own sin. In this story I believe it is important to identify as the adulterous woman whom God went down to, in order to bring her unto life with him. It has a very similar feel to the bride and groom relation that Paul talks a lot about in Ephesians 5.

Jesus will ALWAYS decrease. He will never lift himself up or draw attention to himself. He looks to the Father and does what the Father tells him to do. He will stoop down to our place of sin, ready to take the stone of man upon himself so that we may have life in Him. 

This story is a clear picture of death into life. The Crucified Life. Outcast and living in sin, the sin is revealed in the presence of the Son, Christ doesn’t condemn us, but with him our sin is taken away, and then we are brought into life in Christ. 

No matter the sin, shame, or struggles you’re facing--Christ is there. He comes down to take on death (our sin nature), and by the death that we are joined to, we are made new. All of the struggles, sin, shame, and pain that you had is gone. It may not be completely gone to our eyes, but to his eyes, he sees you as a new creation. We are sons and daughters in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 3:26)

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I think it’s important that remember that Christ isn’t a part of our lives, but he is life itself. Every part of who we are should become completely dependent upon his life and being. We must become all-sufficient to his life. Not to what he can provide for us in the earth,  but in the provision and sufficiency that comes from his heart that overcomes our soul and transforms our heart. He must become more than someone we reach out to when we’re in a time of need, but someone we simply desire to be with whether we’re in a time of complete joy, sadness, or emptiness. Whether you’re the “busiest person” in the world, or the person with the most free time, our hearts should all be one of the same--desiring Christ’s life over any other thing in this world. Not to simply know about it, or even study the life of Jesus of Nazareth, but to know him for who he is as the Son. To know his heart in relation to the Father, allowing for the Spirit to reveal that heart to us. We aren’t called to know Jesus of Nazareth, but the risen Christ who now lives with the Father--the one in whom we are made one with by the cross of Christ. And because we died (our old man/sin nature) with Christ on the cross, we too (if we believe in him) are raised with him in heavenly places adopted as sons in Christ Jesus. 

As we press on to know Christ, let us not see it as an activity or even a relationship that is one-sided (always asking for this and that), but a relationship that mimics the heart of God himself--always pouring out and taking the lower seat. Never seeking to be lifted up, but always seeking to lift up the other person. As we pray and commune with the Father, Son, and Spirit, allow us not to be selfish in our words, but desire whatever the Father desires for his church and body. 

[noah-axel]

There is a reality of knowing and relating to Christ that goes beyond a once-a-week religious endeavor. It goes beyond church, youth groups, small groups--everything. It is a reality that seeks to enter into his life and nature on a moment by moment basis. This is what it means to be a “Christian.” We are consumed by his life, pressing into it in every situation and trial, putting complete faith in his steadfast love and mercy. This doesn’t mean that we’ll always succeed or have a joy-filled life. It is simply a new way of identifying in Christ. It is a heart that cries, “Despite my location and situation, I place my faith in Christ knowing that his nature is perfect, and my old nature is broken.” As we press into him, moment by moment, we will grow into his life and nature. A nature that always takes the lower seat--going into death so that life would come forth. Let us choose HIM in every moment. He is our way, our truth, and our life--words that carry far more meaning than we’ll ever come to know.

[noah-axel]

What is it that you strive for? While there could be an endless amount of answers to this question, there is something greater at hand. You see, when asking Christians what this question means to them “as a Christian”, they will often say, “heaven” or the likes of obtaining a place beyond this earth. To “finish the race” and see God face to face. 

Now, I find this to be a great answer, but once again, there is something greater that I am looking for. They will explain that they are looking forward to seeing God, and for there to be no more pain, agony, and sin. 

Once again this is great, but more is still missing. Let me just get to my point. Christians often strive for heaven, but the reality is; heaven is within you. Yes, there is a heaven (a physical and perfect place where God dwells and rules), but we often become so focused upon the physical things, that we completely miss what heaven is.

If I were to tell you that heaven is like having a mansion that holds everything you could ever want in it. Each person gets their own mansion. Maybe it has a pool, game room, a water slide, giant flat screen TV’s and all the food you could ever want. I bet that sounds pretty good! But what if I told you that heaven is nothing more than reflecting in God’s beautiful presence for the rest of eternity--nothing more--would you be as excited? You see, there is something wrong when we look at heaven and say that we’re excited about what we’re going to get out of living and fulfilling my duties as a Christian. It honestly just sounds like an extended retirement if you ask me, and I can confidently tell you that that is not a heart centered on Christ. The truth is, you should feel more excited about heaven being a place where you get to simply rest in the presence of God, because that is the most joy, love, peace, patience, kindness, you will ever feel! That is what we get to look forward to. 

As Christians we are not of this earth because we have become new, and have taken on the image of Christ as we get rid of our old nature. We become completely one with Christ as the Holy Spirit daily reveals his life to us! That is life, and that is heaven on earth. To have Christ in you is heaven. And when we die, we will get to see that fully completed back to how God originally intended. It will be beautiful.

To rap this up simply. If our end goal is heaven, and we’re looking forward to what we get out of this life on earth, we don’t truly have life. You just don’t. You have missed what it means to be a Christian. Our only concern and strive is to have Christ in us, and for our old self to become new in Christ daily!

[noah-axel]

Sometimes, you just wish people would say what they really mean. And in more cases than none, you wish you could simply say how you feel--but we don’t. We’re to worried about how people will see us. We see it everyday. “Hey [insert name], how have you been?” Person responds with, “Oh, I’m good! What about you?” Back to you, “I’m good! Thanks!” 

Both people know, that “good” is probably not all there is to say. They could say it for a number of reasons: maybe they are actually, “good”, or maybe they just want to get on with their day, so they say what you expect to hear, but “good”, in both circumstances, is never all there is to say. Underneath “good”, there are so many different levels, issues, or events. We avoid this idea of REAL or AUTHENTIC TALK. It’s like the plague, because if people were to really see our true selves, we would be seen as weak. That can’t happen...or so we lead ourselves to believe.

If I were to tell people how I was really doing, it would involve far more emotion and intensity. Sometimes i’m honest, answering the “how’s it going?” question with a “life sucks right now”. Yet, I find that I can never get passed that. I want to, but I don’t want to place my burdens and issues on other people. So, when they ask, “why does it suck?” I just say, “it just does”, or “it doesn’t matter”.

In reality, what I really want to answer with, is this:

“Do you want to know why life sucks? It’s because I feel like my life is being torn into a million different pieces. Life sucks because no one cares about mine. And the only one I know of that does care--I can’t even see. I’m living a life with people that say hello or smile as I pass by, but have no other interaction passed that. I’m not appreciated, and I find I am acknowledged but not appreciated. I feel like I may have a greater impact dead. That people would know what value I had if I was gone. I don’t want to die, but I feel as though I might as well already be invisible. The “friends” I think I have, are no friends at all and will fade away in my next chapter of life. The ones I thought I could trust, have kept the most information from me. The only motivation I have right now is that Christ has something greater planned. He is the reason I keep putting one foot in front of the other. Whether some days, my head is down low or up high--Christ is my drive. The one I can’t see, feel, or speak to directly, is the only reason I’m still living. People fail me time and time again, and I simply can’t rely on them anymore. So, yes, right now, life sucks! There is so much going on, I can’t think straight, and feel like I’m doing it all alone.”

But of course, I will keep this bottled up inside, knowing that someday, it will all pass. I just have to keep moving forward as if I am designed to be a manufactured robotic human being for an industrialized age, trained only to work, move, and do. 

[noah-axel]

Sometimes the hardest things to understand and see, are the things that lay right in front of you. Discovering the issue may not be as simple as “googling” potential issues. If you’re sick, asking Google may not give you an accurate answer as to what you’re sick with (generally, it will lead to death). I love this picture of the bird because the whole idea is deceiving. Sometimes, we believe we are soaring above the ground, arms spread wide (figuratively of course), ruling the world below, but in many cases we’re still where we started. Nothing has actually changed, we’ve only led ourselves to believe that we have changed, and after a while, it becomes so engraved into our lives, that we begin to believe it. We’ll say things like,”I’ve grown past all of my past issues”, “Christ has changed that part of my heart and life”, or “I’m a new person.” Now, these aren’t false statements, but these are statements that can ignore the real issue. 

Recently, this has been the realization in my own life. I had been living a life that felt right. I acted in a way that put Christ at the center of my life, I was sure to sacrifice my time, treasures, and talents for the life of Christ, and I continued to “invest” in my relationship with Christ--but I recently realized that I haven’t been living a crucified life as Christ had done. I led myself to believe that I was, but I was only deceiving myself. My life and my mind represented Christ. When I spoke to others, Christ was the center of it all, and nothing else mattered but Christ, but God showed me my heart. A heart that was consumed by the world, looking towards outward things, desiring things separate from Christ. 

It’s important to truly reflect on what it is you live for--not jut through your mind or what may be represented through your actions, but what your heart focuses on. I was never satisfied, no matter how much I knew or understood, and the reason behind that, was my lack of understanding that Christ isn’t a tangible or obtainable object, but a way of life out of death. A change of my old self into my new life. All this time I knew it in my head, but the process of understanding it in my heart is a completely different type of knowledge entirely. 

The verse 1 Corinthians 2:2 and Galatians 2:20 finally make more sense than they have in years. Look them up, and take it to heart! God bless!

[noah-axel]

A thought came to me today as I started reading the book of Daniel. While I obviously had many thoughts when reading the first five books of Daniel, one thing really stuck out to me--who is your king (Hopefully you saw this coming...considering the picture and all)? You see, a king is someone who leads a body of people--a population, kingdom. He decides within his own kingdom, who lives and who dies, who he helps and who lets suffer. He is the leader of and controller. 

The question: “Who is your king?” is directly related to how we live our lives and more importantly what our relationship with Jesus resembles. 

You see, we tend to want to be the kings of our own lives--deciding what we do, who we see, who we help, and why we help those who are a part of our daily lives. This is the natural tendency with which we are born into. This is also the sinful nature that we have had since the tree holding the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. We like to be kings--and truthfully we believe that it should stay that way. 

While reading Daniel I found that we are only one of two different types of people. We are either the king who desired power and knowledge, or we are Daniel who worshiped God and gave all that he was to the life of Christ. To put it into even more simpler terms, you are either a Christian or non-Christian. 

Now I could go on and on about how this relates to our lives, what it looks like to do one or the other, but I find this picture is best understood through your own personal prayer and questioning. So, to end it, I recommend asking yourself--who is your king and where will that king take you?

[noah-axel]

Where are you putting your time, talents, and treasures? I have heard this question before, and in reality, it is an important one, but before you attempt to answer it, let me clarify a few things. When discussing the three T’s (time, talent’s, and treasures) I am not talking about how you serve at the church in or in the community. I am not talking about how much money you give to your offering bucket at church, and I am also not talking about whether you are a part of the worship team, club, or group. There is a side of this question that is far more important. It revolves around the time spent away from those things--away from church, friends, and family. How do you act when you’re alone. How do you spend your time, talents, and treasures when you’re alone?

Today’s society makes us worry more about how we appear to others than ever before. We are constantly making sure we are presentable, making sure that we appear to be good person. Constantly attempting to be a society of “people pleasers.” You don’t have to admit to this lifestyle, but I challenge you to catch yourself whenever you are picking out what to wear, deciding what to eat, or what to say in a group of people. 

These hidden flesh based problems are some of the greatest challenges that we face as human beings. It makes you second guess the Holy Spirit, it makes you think negatively about the way you were created to be, and it destroys us from the inside-out. 

When we are alone and away from the distractions and people that we so desperately try to please and impress, this is the time that may truly show your true heart. What do you want to do? Is Sunday morning church and your weekday small group or youth group enough? Is the bible on the shelf during the week, and back out every Sunday morning? Are you the Christian that takes notes every Sunday morning, but ignores the bible and a time of reflection on what you just learned? 

When will this end?

This can only change by the sacrifice of our fleshly ways. This can only happen by the Holy Spirit revealing the life of Christ to your heart. Once you truly know and love God, can you truly be called a Christ follower. 

Being a Christian is so much more than people describe it as being. It is a life given to us by Jesus, through is blood and death into life. He has shown us exactly the life he desires for all of us to live. A life that kills the flesh and lives for Christ. 

Don’t get me wrong. I am no perfect Christian, and I never will be, but Christ has come to show me that our lives have more meaning to it than even us Christians give it in church. We just have to take the time, our own personal time, to open our hearts up to the Holy Spirit and allow him to show us the life of Jesus Christ.

[noah-axel]

Where do we search for love? What is love?

As I have been deeply reflecting over my own relationship with Christ over the past two months, I finally sat down and asked myself...do I love God? Normally, I would always respond quickly with a “yes” or “of course”, but it wasn’t until just recently when God revealed these verses to me. 

1 Corinthians 8:1-3 (ESV)

“’we know that all of us possess knowledge.’ This ‘knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.”

This immediately intrigued me. Today, knowledge is highly sought after. It holds something of value in our world. People pay you for your knowledge. So (at least me personally) I desire to show my knowledge at any chance I get. Why? Because I want to be valued for what I know. Just as this verse explains, “This knowledge” puffs up. It builds my sense of selfish pride, while love, builds up and strengthens all that it touches. If we continue along the verse, I find myself reading about my own demise. You see, the moment I believe that I (emphasis on “I”) know something, I lose that sense of knowledge. I think I have it figured out, but instead I have blinded myself from what God truly wants to reveal to me.  Then Paul continues on to say that, “if anyone loves God, he is known by God.” This part is absolutely beautiful. Why? Because it says, simply, if you love God, you are known by God--the creator and father of the universe. Now, if I am not mistaken, that is our goal. We are to be known by God. 

Matthew 7:21-23 (ESV)

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

This verse says it all. Many of us will know everything that we need to know to get into heaven, but because we haven’t loved God, God does not know us. He will cast us out. Now this may sound cruel, but this is exactly what Jesus said in his teachings. So, you can imagine my thoughts as the Spirit continues to reveal these things to me. I am sitting at my desk reading this verse over and over again, thinking, is it really that simple? Yes. Does it mean that it will be that easy? Absolutely not. But God taught me that, I can learn and understand what the Bible is meaning, and how we should follow God, and what that looks like, but if I do not truly love God--and I mean truly LOVE God--than he will not know me on the day that I meet him face to face.

There is more to being a Christian than doing and learning the right things to do and say. There is more to it than reading the bible and praying--it is about fully sacrificing your selfish desires and passions so you can truly love God. So yes, it is simple, but no, it is not easy. But not matter what, God is willing to run the race with you, because he understands the difficulties and obstacles ahead.

[noah-axel]

Sometimes, life doesn’t go the way I would like it to. In fact, almost all the time, life doesn’t go the way I wish it would go. I am left peering into my world with confusion and misdirection. Then I realized, that there was a better word combo to replace misdirection--my direction. I allowed myself to get so entangled in the life I desired, that I forgot to embrace the life that I have been given by the only One that matters--God. For a period of time, I allowed my life to remain stagnant and still. I would repeat what I already knew, and live the life that would be viewed as “good”. This did nothing but create discouragement and negativity. I lived an acceptable life, a good life, and a life that others considered to be one that followed the path the God had for me, but what these people didn’t know, is what was happening on the inside. You see, working at a church, I knew exactly how I needed to act in order for everyone to see me as an “ideal Christian”, but in fact, on the inside I knew that I was purely an imitator. My life, as I had mentioned before, became stagnant and self-led. I was misdirected through my own direction. I relied on my knowledge rather than the spiritual knowledge of God. 

I am writing this to tell other brothers and sisters in Christ, that it isn’t worth forcing the Christian life. No, I am not saying give up on the crucified life that Christ calls us to, but instead search for the true life that Christ gives. If you are finding yourself living through the motions, in a boring repetition of Christian standards, in what doesn’t feel like true life, it simply means that we are missing out on the true life that God is offering. We have chosen to sit comfortably and act out a life that resembles Christ, rather than seeking to know the life itself. Christ is life. I am here to tell you that I choose life! Now, I’m not saying that I am all overly excited to crucify my selfish (flesh-based) life, but I do know that I love Christ, and I desire to know his life, therefore my passions and desires can no longer exist with his. 

I doubt anyone will ever read this post, but I pray, that if anyone does stumble across it, that it can in some way reveal something to you and help you in the name of Jesus Christ and him crucified. 

[noah-axel]

I came across this verse while I was studying my bible, and I just couldn't help but share it.

[noah-axel]

Unbelievable...

I went on a beautiful hike this morning, and I heard something that really frustrated me. 

All of us on this hike would consider ourselves as "Christian." One guy is very new to the whole Christian thing, so without any further questioning, one of the other fellow hikers claims he has two questions that this "new" Christian must answer. I am immediately confused and intrigued all at the same time. 

His first question was this (i didn't write it down, but it was almost exactly the same), "Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he lived a sinless life, died on the cross for your sins, and then rose to life after 3 days?" The "new" Christian responded with "absolutely." The hiker inferred that he got the easy question right and asked if he was ready for the next question. 

The next question was this, "Will you put God before any matter in your life and follow Him over man?" The new Christian asked a few questions and then responded with yes. The hiker now yelled out in what I think was happiness, explaining that he does that once someone answers those questions correctly. 

Now, this may not seem like a bad thing to most people. If we are using our brains and thinking logically about the questions he asked, we would think that those are legit questions to ask a new Christian. But this problem falls back to another issue with our modern church, where we unknowingly (or maybe knowingly) make people believe that they have to say a prayer to get into heaven. It doesn't work like that. They ended by saying Jesus wants a relationship with you, which makes most of what they said not matter, but this way of thinking is faulty. Jesus does want a relationship with you, but how does one go about doing that? There are multiple problems about how they went about this conversation; one, Christianity isn't a process, so don't treat it like one, two, never make a newer Christian feel insignificant and lower than you by throwing questions at them, and three, don't be self righteous. 

When asking questions like that you come across as someone who knows everything, and it no longer has to do with anything about God, it has become more about you and what you know. This is no longer what being a Christian is about, this type of lifestyle is more like the Religious people of Jesus's age. 

I had to write this down because God ignited a righteous anger inside of me that was not of my own anger, but of his. Yes--God has anger. I didn't jump in and start talking because I didn't feel like the Holy Spirit wanted me to, instead he wanted to show me what so many "Christians" believe being a Christian really is.