Real Christian Living

"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures" 1 Corinthians 15:3 I'm not perfect, but I follow the one who is, and I'm made holy because of Him. The Bible gives the answers to life's biggest questions even today. In this blog I look at what the Bible has to say about how we live. I hope to teach you and to learn from you through this, so please send me a message about anything. If you want to ask me about something I've written, replied to, or anything else, ask me here.

[real-christianity]

Going into Hiatus

I’m not going to be writing or checking tumblr for a while. I apologise that if you want to ask a question you may have to wait for a while. God Bless.

[real-christianity]

[real-christianity]

I’m going to be writing about the book of James over the next few weeks. If you have any questions about its scriptures, or about practical Christianity in general, please send them through.

[unkaglen]

Why do Christians always ask how sinful something is, rather than ask how righteous it could be? Why do Christians ask God to change everything around them, before they think to say to God: ‘change me’? No matter how many times God has come through for us, we’re still overcome with fears, worries, and doubts. Lord make us more aware of how immense and all powerful you are, of how near you are to us, and how, in the end, your purpose for our life is the only thing that matters.

Unka Glen (unkaglen.tumblr.com)

[real-christianity]

I recently received this message:

hi there, what if the body on earth includes other religions but Christ is the head? This is my response.

Hello friend, Thank you for your question. If I misunderstand what you are asking, please let me know and I will try to give a better answer. I’ll start off by affirming that Christ is indeed the head over every person from every religion! Just in the same way that a king is the head over every citizen, including criminals and those who would prefer to be ruled by someone else. When the Bible says to “the Body” it is talking about “the body of Christ,” or the Christian Church (see 1 Corinthians 12:12-13). Jesus said in John 14, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” In John 11:25 He says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” So where does that leave us? While Jesus is King (head) over everyone, not everyone has a good relationship with Him. Because everyone has sinned (see Romans 3, especially verse 23), we have broken the King’s law and cannot have peace with God. Think of it this way: if you destroy the King’s property and He holds you accountable, you will be guilty and have to pay a price to be at peace with Him (to be reconciled). We cannot pay the price for sin ourselves because it is too much, but Jesus, the King Himself, can afford the price, and He says, “I can forgive you and pay the price to fix what you have broken, or you can take the punishment yourself. The choice is yours.” If we accept His offer of forgiveness we will be right with Jesus, part of His kingdom, His “body.” If we decide to ignore the law and live a way that disobeys Him, we will be punished, removed from the Kingdom. If we decide to live the way the King commands and accept His forgiveness, we are saved from the punishment. But people from other religions cannot be saved because Jesus is the only way. Matthew 22:1-14 is an excellent passage to look at when understanding this. And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” Those who do not trust in God’ Son cannot be part of the body of Christ.

[real-christianity]

Gay Marriage in Australia.

In Australia there’s a lot of arguing within and without the church about same sex marriage. Several of my friends have been posting links to articles about what the Bible says one way or another, and I must admit that I’ve gotten into an argument or two myself.

But I’ve come to realise that we as Christians are missing the point. More important than the issue of same sex marriage in Australia (which will undoubtedly be a reality in the near future, no matter how the postal vote goes) is the Gospel.

Ask yourself this: “How many times have I spoken with someone about gay marriage this month?” Then ask, “How many times have I shared the Gospel with someone this month?

The second number should always be higher than the first. And remember this: you will not win someone to Christ with an argument. I would much rather be insulted and ridiculed and lead someone to Jesus than win every argument and be hated by those my Saviour came to save.

Romans 12:14-18

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

[real-christianity]

I've just spent half my day on your tumblr and accidentally scrolled all the way to 2013 because it's just so good. From an outside perspective, I can see how hugely your faith has grown! I wanna thank you for the pure honesty on here too. It's so refreshing to not have someone be worldy in their posts and I'm so convicted by some things I'm reading! It's so awesome and has really given me a lot to think about. I hope I can be as biblically honest as you and not fear what the world will say!

Thank you for the encouragement! It brings me joy to know that God has used my writing to challenge you in your faith. I’ve taken a break from posting for a while, but plan to return to this blog one day. Keep fighting the good fight! And trust in the Spirit’s guidance. 

God Bless. 

[christ-our-glory]

[womanintheword]

If it goes against His Word, it is not His Will.

[real-christianity]

is Iconoclastic Christianity heresy?

I’ll start by admitting that When I first read this question I didn’t know what Iconoclasm was. For those who aren’t familiar with it, Iconoclasm refers to “the destruction of images or hostility toward visual representations in general.” For Christian Iconoclasm, it means being against artwork of Jesus. Khan Academy has a brief but informative explanation of the subject.

Some supporters have cited Exodus 20:3-6 when defending this viewpoint:

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

Iconoclastics claim that “each visual representation of Christ necessarily ends in a heresy since Christ, according to generally accepted Christian dogmas, is simultaneously God and man, united without separation, and any visual depiction of Christ either separates these natures, representing Christ’s humanity alone, or confuses them.”

But counter-arguments are as follows (quoted from the article I’ve linked to):

“Images of Christ do not depict natures, being either Divine or human, but a concrete person—Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God. They claimed that in Christ the meaning of the Old Testament prohibition is revealed: God prohibited any representation of God (or anything that could be worshiped as a god) because it was impossible to depict the invisible God. Any such representation would thus be an idol, essentially a false representation or false god. But in Christ’s person, God became visible, as a concrete human being, so painting Christ is necessary as a proof that God truly, not seemingly, became man. The fact that one can depict Christ witnesses God’s incarnation.”

My personal take? Don’t focus too much on the pictures. I can have a lovely picture of my brother at my desk, drawn by someone who has never seen him, but if I want to talk to my brother, listen to him, ask him for help, ask how I can help him, I’ll just go to him.

To sum up, no, I don’t think it is. I also don’t think it matters very much whether you have a painting of Jesus in your house. We don’t know what He looks like, and we won’t be praying to the picture anyway. I just have a cross in my house.

[real-christianity]

Hello and peace! I hope you're doing well! I'd have a little something to inquire about.. I've recently started dating someone who is not in a relationship with God. I've been discussing breaking things with him because of this.. but he - and me as well, in a sense - doesnt understand why we should, when he promised he doesnt want me to change my faith or do anything i dont want to do. Any thoughts/advice? Thank you so much in advance!

Thank you for your question, sister. And peace to you!

I’ll answer this questions to the best of my ability, but first of all, I have something for you to think about:

“Every important thing in life revolves around relationships.”

This quote is from John North, and I agree with him wholeheartedly. Take a bit of time to think about what that means. Personally, I dwell on this and realise how important it is to get relationships right.

With that in mind, let’s look at romantic relationships specifically. I think the first thing to say on the matter is that everything we do should have its purpose rooted in loving and glorifying God. This goes for everything, from deciding whether to exercise or rest, to choosing if and what you will study, to what cereal to buy, to who you spend time with, to who you date, to who you marry.

What is the end-goal of dating? Well, dating is included in everything, so dating should have its purpose rooted in loving and glorifying God.

Right now, I encourage you to read 2 Corinthians 5:16-20, Colossians 1:15-23 and Revelation 1:4-8, paying specific attention to the way we as Christians are described as being seperate to the rest of the world. Go ahead and read those passages right now.

Now consider how the Bible describes people who don’t know Jesus. I’m going to use some very strong words here, so I want you to know that firstly, what I say is out of brotherly love, and secondly, these words are not my own but God’s.

In Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus he describes the life of someone before they find Jesus. Starting in Chapter 2 verse 1 he says: 

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the princes of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

This is how you and I were before we were adopted into God’s family, saved by jesus’ death on the cross. This is how the person you’re dating is now. People date because they find each other funny, attractive, kind, smart, and many other things. This person probably ticks all those boxes and more to you, but by God’s standards he is spiritually dead and a slave to sin.

Man, it hurts to think about the people I care about who don’t know Jesus. That’s how they are. That’s why Jesus’ command to “Make disciples of all nations” hits so hard to me. There’s a huge price to pay for sin, and refusing God’s offer of help means you have to pay for it all.

With this massive difference between you and the person you’re dating, I’ll ask you what Paul asked people with the same desire to understand that you do:

“What partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Satan? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols?” —2 Corinthians 6:14-16.

Please remember that while I use strong words, I do so out of love, to fully communicate what God has to say.

This man that you’re dating, he has priorities and focuses that are not in line with God’s calling on your life. Even something as simple as not actively encouraging you in your walk with God, not actively building you up in Christ, not praying with you, not reading the Bible with you, these things take the focus away from God, and make it much more difficult to live a Christ-centred life.

Finally, I’ll say this. If you decide to date this man with the intention of leading him to Christ, it may work out. Recently, a friend of mine told me about a man at his church who dated a non-Christian and ended up bringing her to Jesus. It can happen.

However, this is a rare thing. Even taking Christianity out of the equation, if you go into a relationship with the intention to change who someone is, there will be tension, anger, frustration and despair. It may work out in the end, but so many people have gotten into relationships with the intention to evangelise and ended up walking away from God because of it.

Those are my thoughts, and here is my advice: choose to give Jesus your everything. The call of Christ means devoting everything you have to God, including dating. Don’t choose someone who doesn’t have a relationship with God, because you will be trying to build a life with someone who can’t understand the most important thing in your life. Your boyfriend needs to be someone who you put second to God, and who puts you second to God.

That’s a hard pill to swallow; it’s never nice or easy to give something important up. I pray that you’ll find what I’ve had to say to be helpful, even if it’s not something you wanted to hear.

God bless you, and know that I’m praying for you.

[real-christianity]

Eph 5:29 I do though? Is Paul saying that getting married would fix that problem??

Hello friend, thanks for your question.

For reference, Ephesians 5:29 says this: “For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church.”

To avoid any miscommunication I’m going to rephrase your question, but please let me know if I haven’t got it right.

The question is: I hate my body, even though Paul says “no one ever hated his own flesh.” Why is this? And is Paul saying that getting married would improve my self-image and make me love my body?

I have two answers for you, my friend. The first is that when interpreting scripture, context is king. The second is that getting married will not fix the problem of body image.

When we look at the context of this passage, reading Ephesians 5:22-33, we see that Paul is giving the model of a healthy marriage between a spiritually healthy man and woman.

When Paul speaks of nourishing and cherishing a wife, I see the language used the same way when we talk about our bodies. We nourish our bodies with food and water, providing what is necessary to live.

The definition of cherish is to protect and care for lovingly. Men are instructed to keep their wives safe and make sure to take care of their emotional and physical needs. This doesn’t mean babying them though, because that wouldn’t be loving. You take care of your body’s physical needs, bathing, clothing, eating. And your emotional needs are also something you aim to take care of.

Friend, I have something very important to tell you. If you have a low self-worth, there are three things you can do about it. One of them is bad, one of them is good but incomplete, and one is completely satisfying.

1. The bad one is waiting for someone to help you. They very well might, but as long as you are passive in your effort to improve yourself, you won’t get very far.

2. the good but incomplete one is making the effort. If you’re going to the gym and eating healthier, or perhaps changing your diet to avoid foods that cause breakouts and using skincare products, or maybe putting in extra hours to perfect your form in your dance or sport, you will see big improvement. However, as long as you put your worth in the approval of others, you will consistently find yourself let down, in the mud, wondering where you went wrong. Despite our efforts, what we do will not be enough for us.

3. There is only one way to find perfect love for yourself, including your body. In John 10:10 Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” From my own experience, as long as you put your worth and validation in the hands of other people, regardless if they are classmates, friends, family or even your husband or wife, you will be trying to “get” love from others, to fill your “love tank.”

Look at this passage in Romans 8: “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

When I read these words, I remember that the one person who can provide the love and validation I need has already given it to me. When I felt worthless, His death on The Cross and new life gave me value. When I felt alone, His Holy Spirit remained with me always. When I felt unimportant, God had already adopted me into His family, an heir of God and co-heir with Christ. I love my body because it is a temple of God, made holy by His Holy Spirit.

When I realised this, I was able to stop hating myself and embrace how important I am to God.

And now, having realised this, I’m able to work to improve myself for the best reason. Not so that others will approve, or to increase my worth, but to glorify God by making the most of what He has given me. It’s less than some have, but more than others as well.

If you hate your flesh, it won’t be getting married that fixes that. Only a healthy relationship with Jesus can teach true self-worth. So be active in your search for intimacy with God. Read His word, spend time with others who can encourage you in your walk with God and your life as well. Seek first the kingdom of God, because when we have our priorities right, the right values and thoughts will follow.

[real-christianity]

If God's work through you were to match your prayer life, would He be doing a lot or a little?

Anonymous

[real-christianity]

What would you like answers about?

This blog’s purpose is to help Christians grow in their understanding of God, His will, how to relate to Him and how to respond to Him. I want to write about what you want to know about, so please answer and I will do my utmost to write a post about each topic or question I receive.

[real-christianity]

Is it okay to be gay/bisexual/transgender but also a Christian?

Hi Hannah, thanks for the question. I’m going to answer it in two parts because I feel that there’s a big difference between same-sex attraction and gender identity. It’s an important question, so I’m going to have a bit of a longer response to it. I’ll start with a definition of sin: “Sin is any behaviour or attitude that rejects God and who He is.”

Insofar as being sexually attracted to people of the same sex, without doubt you can still have Jesus as Lord of your life and forsake all else in pursuit of Him while being gay or bisexual. The Bible is quite clear about the morality of homosexual relationships, but being naturally attracted to the same sex is not sinful, in the same way that being tempted to lie to get out of trouble is not sinful. It’s acting on sinful temptations that is sinful. To take it a step further, you can be a Christian and have sex outside of marriage. You will be living a sinful lifestyle that doesn’t honour God, but if you have a relationship with Jesus then sinning won’t end it. it will damage it, yes, but when you are saved you are saved from sin, including sin you do after you are saved.

I feel like I should stop here and make it clear that no matter who you are or what you’ve done, God loves you infinitely. Even if you declare yourself an enemy of God, that will not stop Him from loving you and offering you life with Him forever. “sexual immorality” is not an “ultimate” sin. Throughout all your time on earth there’s nothing you can do that’s a final rejection of Him. If you have a personal relationship with God, that’s fantastic. Keep pursuing Him. But if not, I encourage you to investigate the person of Jesus—who He is, what He did and why it matters. being LGBT+ has no impact on how much God loves you and wants a personal relationship with you.

With that in mind, if the question is “Is it okay to have gay sex if you’re a Christian?” then my answer is no. Christian or not, who you pray to doesn’t change objective right and wrong. You can be a Christian and sin, but it’s a morally wrong lifestyle.

Because there are many other good resources on this, I’ll only give a brief explanation of this stance: Sex was designed by God to be within the context of marriage. God defined marriage as between a man and a woman, each complementing the other and completing them: the male completes the female and the female completes the male. Homosexual relationships, on the other hand, are described in Romans chapter 1 like this: “For this reason [rejecting God] God gave them up to dishonourable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.”

Gay and bisexual people are not sinful because they find people attractive, just like a straight person isn’t sinful for finding someone of the opposite sex attractive. Acting on temptation is what is sinful.

If part of what I’ve said here doesn’t make sense, or if you think I’ve got something wrong, please let me know. Honest and open communication is so important when it comes to conversations about topics like this.

On the subject of transgenderism, I don’t have very much to say, nor do I hold convictions as strongly as I do about a lifestyle of sex outside of marriage. Transgenderism, or gender dysmorphia, is a horrible thing to live with—feeling trapped in a body that doesn’t match who you are is something I can’t comprehend, and it pains me to think about the terrible thoughts that transgender people have. Worse still is the treatment transgender people receive from so many others, both in and out of the Church. On top of that, a great deal of sex change procedures don’t bring about the peace and fulfilment that trans people hope for. All this to say, there needs to be a big change in the way Christians relate to transgender people.

My take on its morality is that God created each one of us with the intention of us being who He has given for us to be. That’s not an in-depth answer, nor would it be a satisfactory one, but I’m not going to explain further because I don’t want to give just my opinion. However, regardless of that, nothing you or anyone else does could seperate you from the grace that God offers. Forgiveness from sin (rejecting God). So you can be a trans Christian.

The Gospel is for everyone, me, you, LGBT+ people, Westboro baptist church, everyone. No matter how bad (or good) someone is, Jesus offers forgiveness to everyone.

[uncleanlips-deactivated20171008]

One bad day does not undo the work of Jesus, who on the cross, in one day, undid all the power of sin and shame.

Unclean Lips (via cattedrali)

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What is prayer?

Prayer is not simply talking to God. That is obviously part of it, but that description comes nowhere close to helping us understand the enormity of what Prayer is.

Prayer is bringing worship and honour and glory and praise to the King of the ages, Lord of glory, Author of salvation, Designer of creation, Redeemer of our souls, Keeper of our destiny, Giver of law and Judge of the world. We cannot neglect to recognise who our Father in Heaven is or what His desire to communicate with us means.

God is the One whom we rebelled against, and despite our depravity and total rejection of Him, “while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.” (Romans 5:10).

This is the person to whom we speak when we pray. The Architect of life itself loves to listen to and communicate with His children.

With this in mind, I give you a solemn warning: Do not pray a wish-list.

In the Lord’s Prayer, In Matthew 6, we see that the prayer Jesus models for us has hardly any personal requests in it. In fact, most of this prayer seeks to elevate God in the life of the believer, worshipping Him, seeking His kingdom on earth, confessing and repenting of sin requesting that God save Christians from the desires of sin in the future. Only one line of this prayer is about the physical needs of the believer, and even then Jesus only asks God for enough to sustain him.

In every thing we do with our lives, God should be at the centre of it. This maxim rings true especially in the area communication with God.

We pray for relationship with God, for glorifying God, for Worshipping God, for praising God. We do not pray to get things from God.

By all means, pray specific to your life—for healing of loved ones, new friends, focus in studies and other important things.

But the difference between daily bread and dessert cake is that one is necessary to live and the other is unnecessary and in most cases unhealthy. The difference between good prayer and bad prayer is that good prayer focuses on the desires of God and how to glorify Him, and bad prayer focuses on the self and what the human desires of the flesh are.

It is my prayer that God would be the centre of your prayer life, and every other aspect of your life as well. Let us glorify God with prayer that speaks the truth of the Gospel from our hearts!