Are you a Follower or Just a Believer?

The journey of living one's life as a Christian is an ongoing process. In its early stages, we are called to learn and accept certain beliefs pertaining to God, Jesus and our self. This is accomplished by reading the Bible, attending church, participating in small group study, self reflection and prayer. The more we invest in this journey the stronger our relationship with God grows. Being a Christian sounds pretty easy, doesn't it? If that was all there was to it, it would be easy to walk with Jesus. However, without acting on that faith, our journey becomes pointless and we become stagnant and incapable of moving further along on our spiritual path.

As we evolve in our faith, action becomes necessary to continue to progress. Action or inaction defines whether we are just believers of the word or if we are followers of Jesus. Action is not easy. Sometimes God calls us to do things we may be uncomfortable with, don't know how to do, or are afraid to do. This is why many people in the church, who are good people, get stuck in the belief only mode of our faith. Action is hard. Action is scary. Action takes energy. Action believes that through our faith, we can accomplish what God has called us to do. Action helps to strengthen our faith, deepen our understanding of what the Bible teaches us, and develop us into followers of Jesus. Action requires a deeper commitment to God and our beliefs. Without action our faith cannot truly be alive, since we are in fact not really living out our faith. In essence, our faith is dead or nonexistent to the outside world. Faith is like the scientific concept of potential energy. It provides us with many opportunities and holds the exponential possibility of great things. Action is what releases that potential energy, turning faith into greatness and glorifying God. It allows our faith to flow so that the outside world can see it and experience it.

Are you a follower or just a believer? Do you have enough faith to trust in God and what you have come to believe and be moved to action?

Procrastination, Your Comfort Zone and God's Will For You

***

God is calling you and has a job for you to do. You approach Him, listen with your heart to what it is He has for you to do, only to be left to wonder if you understood correctly. What He is asking is in complete conflict with what you believe you should be doing or are capable of doing. You begin to question what His calling is for you and drag your feet. You want to move forward and trust that He knows what is best for you, but can't seem to get motivated to step out of your comfort zone. Why can't you take the plunge and move forward?

1. You are afraid of failure or success – Many times fear can stop a person dead in our tracks from pursuing what God has for them to do. It can make them question if they have understood him correctly and doubt their ability to carry out his plan for them. Sometimes you face fear with the idea that if you succeed you may need to make more permanent changes to your life that fall outside of your comfort zone and could possibly alter your life significantly from what you have grown accustomed to.
2. God's calling seems too overwhelming to you – You look at what he is asking you to accomplish and you become overwhelmed. You don't know where to start and all the steps you need to take complete the task successfully. The enormity of the call feels like it is well above what you can handle.
3. You don't like what you are being asked to do – Although God does not force anyone to do anything and he gives a person free will to make their own decisions, he does try to steer each person down a path he has chosen for them. It is natural to not want to do what you are asked to do, especially if it something that contradicts what you had chosen for yourself.
4. You don't understand the purpose behind your calling and you lack motivation and focus – You may not feel inspired or excited about what God has for you initially. It becomes very difficult to become motivated to work towards your calling when you can't understand the reason or purpose behind what you are doing. It is difficult to blindly accept something without having the foresight as to why you are doing what you are doing.
5. You don't want to attempt fulfill God's calling unless you know you can do it perfectly – For those of you who are perfectionists and are control freaks it is very difficult to attempt what God is asking you to do if you feel you may not be able to complete it to His standards. You are driven for the end result and not focusing on the journey to accomplish what God has for you.

How can me move past these thoughts and move forward with God's calling for us? By realizing that in life you do not truly have control over anything other than your emotions and your own actions. God does not expect you to be perfect, as it is in your imperfection you feel the need to draw closer to Him. He wants you to trust that, although you may not understand why He wants you to do something, that He has your best interest at heart and would never ask you to do something that He did not think you were fully capable of doing or that would hurt you. You do not need to have fear or to feel inadequate or incapable, for through Him all things are possible (Matthew 19:26) and He will be with you in all that He asks you to do.

***Note- Thank you to author Sue Fitzmaurice for this great graphic on procrastination which has provided inspiration for this blog entry.