Blog

Knowing how to love God with your mind is something to which some people may not give much thought. 

We’ve been considering different kinds of strategies that are connected to different spiritual temperaments from Gary Thomas’s book, Sacred Pathways, where he discusses, in part, how to connect with God through your mind. 

Gary names it “the intellectuals”, perhaps making you might think someone with that title as a bit of a Bible nerd — you know, the intellectual person who connects to God through their mind, who loves digging into apologetics. 

So-called intellectuals love delving into intense Bible studies on just a handful of verses to try and go as deep as possible, pouring themselves into books and commentaries and resources to get to the bottom of everything. 

The more the “intellectuals” learn about God, the more connected they tend to feel to God. Personally, I remember an instance where I experienced a significant spiritual breakthrough, and it happened over the course of this past year. 

What happened was this: One of my close friends, Paul introduced me to the Bema Discipleship podcast, something he had stumbled upon. I was getting a lot out of listening to the podcast but granted, it took me a while to jump onto it. Reflecting on that now it seems a bit foolish because it has been so transformative for me and for a lot of other people who have a plugged into it. 

I spend a fair amount of time listening to podcasts, but hearing the Bible taught from an eastern Jewish perspective opened my eyes to an entirely new way of experiencing God. 

I couldn’t deny that this experience started with my mind, that intellectual bit we were just discussing. It started with my gaining a deeper knowledge-based understanding, and then in my own personal study, as I continued to dig into what I was learning, there was more mental engagement.  But I was aware, too, that there are definitely some pitfalls that people who are engaging intellectually, even with spiritual substance, need to watch out for,  the first one being we tend to love controversy. 

We tend to love getting into these intellectual sparring matches — these arguments — especially with other intellectuals. It’s this idea that we must battle your ideas and my ideas and try to convince one another that one idea is better than the other,  or at least try and resolve with a mutual a deeper understanding of what each one of us is talking about, right? 

Intellectual sparring and arguing is a very easy place to go because you’re kind of “nerding out” on the Bible, but it’s easy to over-correct and push it too far. Getting into actual quarrels about things in the grand scheme of things can be quite meaningless, and harmful to our relationships with others. At least that’s how Paul puts it in his instruction to Timothy — that we should avoid quarrels and controversies about words. So, if you’re an intellectual, you may want to make sure that you are using that big Bible brain of yours to actually lift up, encourage and inspire other people. 

While it’s fine to have spirited discussions, you just want to make sure they stay in their proper places and don’t come to dominate most discussions you have with most Christians. 

The second pitfall – which I think this is a huge one — is knowing rather than doing.  When you have knowledge, knowing what God wants you to do, but then don’t do anything with it. Knowledge. You have to do what you have good knowledge about, what you’ve learned. You have to put it into practice. 

This is actually why I finish every single podcast episode the same way: I call listeners to take action with what you’ve learned because I really want you to do reap the benefits of what learning resonated with you. I want you not to just listen to my podcast and consume new information, but for it to impact your life in a meaningful way. 

The only way this can happen is if you actually do something with the content that you’re engaging with while listening or reading. 

I  mean it, that I want you to take action. And if you are an intellectual, one of those people who is digging into the Bible, learning about the Bible, learning about God, don’t just stop at the knowledge. 

Make sure you’re implementing the good knowledge into your life. 

Finally, the third pitfall that you need to watch out for if you are an intellectual is being proud. There is a saying in 1 Corinthians 8:1, 

“Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” 

I have found this to be so true in my life: you can be so smart, have so much knowledge, so much understanding, yet lack compassion, because unless you are focused on others, your knowledge may just feed your ego.

So, don’t lose your identity in your own self-perception, your prideful identity, being arrogant and overly confident in ways that don’t serve others. 

Don’t ever forget where your capacity to think and reason comes from!

If I asked you to think of the sin that no one else seems to be talking about, what do you think that might be? 

When you think of sin or sinful behavior, what do you think about? 

Perhaps you think about sexual morality, pride or disrespect 

What about not being as good as you could be? 

Since sins we commit are certainly easier to identify, sins of omission have a dangerous potential to set us firmly on a path to a lukewarm faith. 

If you’re not familiar with lukewarm faith, let me explain a bit what I mean. In James 4:17, we have this really strong statement:

“If anyone then knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” 

That seems a bit extreme, right? Does it mean that at any time, if you know what you should do, and choose not to do it, then it is considered committing a sin? Enough of missing the mark we’re supposed to hit, and something that Jesus had to die for since He died for our sins? Not just when you steal something and you’re not supposed to steal; not just when you lie, not when you’re deceitful; not when you’re sexually immoral,  and the list we know of. But sins of omission are significant too? 

Think about it: Jesus had to die for the time where you should have offered an encouraging word and chose not to? That’s kind of crazy, right? 

Think about if you truly understand what God wants you to do in any given situation and you choose not to do it. What is it from His perspective? It’s sinful, and you might be tempted to think the Bible states this one isolated statement.  Actually, Jesus echoes the sentiment multiple times in the Gospels!

One that comes to mind the most is the parable of the talents. The master gives five talents to one servant, two talents to another servant, and one talent to a third servant. The third servant knows what he should do — which is take that investment and multiply it. He chooses not to do what he knows he should do. The master’s reaction to that is, Yeah, good luck buddy.  You’re not at my servant anymore. 

Another example that comes to mind is when Jesus talks about separating the sheep from the goats, based on what they chose not to do. 

It’s what they omitted from their life that led to them being ostracized and separated and left outside of God’s kingdom. 

In the Book of James, there is also discussion about the sins of omission. It says that we have a tendency — when we think of sin — to think only of those things we have done that we should not have done. 

I know in my own confessions before the Lord I tend to focus on these kinds of sins, but I should also consider and ask for help about those ways in which I have failed to do what the Lord has commanded me or is clearly leading me to do. 

Perhaps I did not reach out to help a neighbor in need, or perhaps I failed to bear witness to a coworker when I had the opportunity. These also are sins for which I must seek God’s forgiveness and help to be better in the future. 

When you start to consider the world and God with this perspective — when you start to recognize those shortcomings as being really serious — it really both convicts and guards your heart in a very specific way 

When you don’t recognize your sins of omission, it’s easy to get lulled into a false sense of security and rightness. It’s easy to think we’re not that bad. We lose an appropriate urgency to grow, to repent, to continue to refine our character and behavior. 

We mistakenly think we just settle in right where we are and throw it into autopilot. Not stealing, not getting drunk, not cursing, being faithful to my spouse. All good!  What more could I do? 

What more could I aspire to? Hmm… Can’t think of anything.

This mindset is a trap. It is a trap because when this is where you live, you will inevitably walk closer and closer towards a lukewarm faith, a faith that says, I don’t really need anything from God. I’m good. I’ve got my life figured out. I don’t need help. 

The Bible is filled with examples of godly men and women that took their foot off the gas and took their eye off the prize and ultimately suffered the consequences of it. 

The Old Testament specifically is littered with people that had incredible promise, who started faithfully following God obeying his commands, and then for one reason or another, fell off the path, decided to stray and make compromises. 

It was often because they put themselves in this lukewarm mindset and situation. I’m in a good place. I don’t have to keep my guard up, do anymore. Some might be thinking of the word complacency with all this in mind. 

Sins of omission have a remarkably powerful way of leading us to this place without our awareness of it. 

You don’t want this to happen to you.

To be clear, it’s not the goal that every decision that you make has a possible burden of sinful guilt, but that you need to be aware and repenting about sins of omission, to be more mindful of God’s voice and Biblical teachings, and possibly doing more of what God clearly wants you to do.  

Even though all of us need to recognize where we fall short, in the same way, all of us need to focus on repentance and becoming like Jesus, who we know it is said, “…for freedom that Christ has set us free.” 

The point isn’t, “In addition to not doing bad stuff, now I have to feel bad when I don’t do all the good stuff.” The point is simply that all of us have very far to go when it comes to living like Jesus, right? 

All of us have a long way to go, and a lot of ground to cover — enough ground that not one of us will ever reach the point where we can take our foot off the gas pedal and throw it into autopilot. So, don’t settle. Don’t become complacent.

Sins of omission are just one thing that you can point to and say, Yep, I still need Jesus. 

As a young Christian, whenever someone came to me looking for help, either answering a  question or wanting some advice or feedback, I always felt that had to come up with an answer. 

Have you ever felt that way before? 

Most of the time, I was able to either offer some advice that I had obtained from someone else and put it into practice in my own life and saw how it worked for me. 

Other times, I was able to point the person to a scripture that directly spoke to their question. 

But when I couldn’t provide any of these things successfully, or even sometimes when I just felt lazy and didn’t feel like finding the best scriptures, I found that I would say to the person two words that do more harm than good… 

“I think.”

These two words — though very innocently intended and shared — should be avoided as much as possible.

There’s a really good reason.

Starting an answer with, “I think” is not what you want to be doing, and it’s not because you have ill intent or are about to say something that doesn’t have value. 

Your opinion and insight and experience that speak to a situation are valuable, but starting our response with “I think” seems to miss the point of this fundamental Christian journey we’re undertaking — which is to point people to God as the source of wisdom and knowledge and understanding. 

When someone asks for advice and you provide them a scripture that addresses that question, you are helping that person approach God for that wisdom. You are flexing and strengthening that spiritual Bible study muscle. 

On the other hand, when you substitute providing a scripture to reference that with your thoughts — even if they’re great ideas, appropriately relevant thoughts, wise sage advice — you are sacrificing an opportunity to help that person build their own convictions on God’s word. 

God is the source of all wisdom. 

God being the source of all wisdom is what the whole first section of the Book of Proverbs is about — how we should love wisdom. 

We receive wisdom when we obey God’s commands. 

In 1 Corinthians, Paul teaches that God shames the wise of this world by revealing himself in his divine wisdom to the simple-minded — the people that nobody thinks anything of, and who are discounted. 

Paul even kind of pokes fun at the sage and the debaters and intellectual, saying that while it is great that they have all this wisdom, they have missed God’s wisdom. How smart and enlightened can they, or you, really be without turning to and clinging to God’s wisdom? 

When you are able to point someone to the source of the wisdom that you happen to have, whether from scripture, biblical teaching, the biblical principles that underly the advice that you’re giving, you are teaching that person how to fish. 

You’re teaching each person how to seek and find God’s wisdom for himself or herself — to discover the answers to the questions being pondered enough to come to you seeking some direction. 

When you’re pointing people to the Bible and particular scriptures that they can read, that they can study, that they can embrace personally. 

Rather than saying, “So-and-so told me this is what I should do. So that’s why I did it.” Is very different from being asked for advice and the response being, “I was given this passage or this scripture or this story, and I found it and studied it and really came to understand what God is teaching. I’ve been able to implement that wisdom not just in that one situation, but in other situations as well.” 

This sort of response from the advice-seeker is golden. That’s what you want as someone who’s been sought for advice, direction, wisdom.

You want to equip people when asked for help about wisdom. 

When you give someone your opinion, you’re simply just giving them a fish. 

You’re only meeting their need in the moment, but not preparing them to figure for themselves next time. 

When the next time comes and they need wisdom and discernment again, they haven’t learned how to find the answer from God. They come to you instead for the quick fix. 

When I do give advice when somebody has asked me for advice or have a question, I always try to give them a scripture to guide the response. I don’t always have a scripture to share, but I make it my goal to provide one for each situation I’m presented with when someone comes to me for advice or direction.

Paul says in Ephesians 4:11:

“He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God, to maturity, to a full-grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. 

So that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes, rather speaking the truth in love. We are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

My personal goal that I aim to achieve whenever I am asked by someone for advice is to help them become more mature as a Christian.

You want to have a rock-solid foundation in your faith, right?

A solid sturdy foundation of faith comes only through building your convictions on scripture and does not come by following your pastor’s advice, or your best friend’s advice, or your neighbor’s advice, right? 

You’re not going to grow when a person who is not God is your primary source of wisdom and advice. 

Likewise, you don’t want to lead any person astray. You don’t want to lead any person who is asking you for advice towards something that’s not God. 

The next time someone asks you for advice, I encourage you to use a scripture with your reply. 

And when you use scripture as the source of the wisdom, it forces you to grow as well because now you’re going to the Bible to look for wisdom, and it helps the other person grow as they won’t be relying on you for simple answers to burning questions about what they should do. 

Through your example of going to scripture, they will also be learning to rely on the word of God to help guide their life.

It’s extremely useful to know how to choose between two good choices. 

For much of my Christian life, I have done, I think, a pretty good job dedicating myself to figuring out God’s will. I thought about questions like, What does God want me to do? What job does he want me to have? Where does he want me to live? 

These sorts of questions have been things that I’ve always tried to keep at the forefront of my life because I never wanted to get to a place where I’m not living in accordance with God’s will. 

Of course, sometimes the answers to those questions are really clear. God makes His will exceptionally strong as to what he wants me to do or what the right choices are. But sometimes it’s not at all clear to me. What do you do with that? Like what do you do when you have to make a decision about something and your options are all good? 

For instance, how do you make a decision between two equally good choices? How do you take action and not just be paralyzed in analysis mode, trying to weigh all the options?  How do you actually take action with when both options seem like they could be the right choice?

To begin thinking about this, it’s important to understand what is and what isn’t a part of God’s will in the sense of how we interact with it.

Questions like, “Does God want me to eat at Chick-Fil-A or McDonald’s this morning? What is God’s will? Does he want me to have a chicken biscuit or a McGriddle?” just aren’t really things that God seems to concern himself with, right? We’re talking bigger picture, trying to figure out what is God’s will when it’s God’s plan for some significant portion of my life. 

Consider the question, “What is my purpose?”

God is much more concerned with your spiritual trajectory. When we see God’s will in the Bible that’s quite often what is being discussed: Who we become. 

Are we going closer to Jesus? 

Are we becoming closer to God or are we pulling away? 

Are we focusing on living a spiritual life or are we falling in love with the ways of the world? 

These are the things that God is concerned with as far as making his will known to us. 

As we are trying to figure out when considering a decision: Is one decision over the other going to draw me closer to God or create unnecessary barriers between me and God or give me trouble in my faithfulness? 

These are the kinds of God’s will “questions” that He is consistently interested in about you. 

It’s crucial to recognize and hold in the back for our minds as we approach this scenario that God is much more concerned with who you are as a person versus small decisions like whether you take the interstate or the back roads to work. Also, remember the other thing that’s really freeing: God can and does work through your mess, even if you choose “wrong”. 

One of my fears as a young Christian was making the wrong decision and messing up God’s plan. I did not want to be that guy that messed everything up because I did something foolish or silly But I learned quickly that God’s plan is resilient. 

God’s plan is much more resilient than we give credit. 

God’s purposes will be achieved, regardless of what any of us choose to do. 

God will be glorified. 

God will be honored with or without us. 

Jesus says that God can make rocks cry out in worship. 

It’s a relief — that God’s plan is resilient. You cannot mess it up for Him. The pressure is  off when you’re trying to figure out, “What do I do?”  But still, you want to try to make the best choice. 

What’s the right choice? 

As long as you’re looking through it with the lens that we’re about to discuss, there’s not a lot that you can do to mess up your choice, alright? 

You can be comforted and more at ease as you feel relief about that fact. 

Understanding what God’s will is, and trying to decipher that he’s much more interested in a 30,000-foot view, helps us know that even when we make mistakes that we’re not going to jack up God’s plan. 

How do you choose between two seemingly equal good options though?

I ask myself when considering the two options: “With all the information currently at my disposal, what gives me and my family the best chance of doing well spiritually?”

Sometimes you make a decision and then six months later you learn some new information that makes you regret the decision that you made. 

But unfortunately, you can’t look into the future and say, “What am I going to know later on that could help me make this decision now?” You go ahead and let yourself off the hook for that because it’s not possible to know in advance, to do it any other way

Be comfortable with the limited information you currently have, and then from there, decide what you think is going to give you and your family the best chance of doing well spiritually.

When you make your decisions through that lens, then it’s really hard to go wrong!

You might make a less than ideal decision, but you’re certainly not going to make an awful decision.

Here are some questions and potential dilemmas where this lens is helpful 

For instance, let’s say you have an opportunity to take a higher-paying job in a city that doesn’t have a church that you feel comfortable with. You’re not sure if there’s a body of believers there that shares your convictions and your doctrine and what you know about the scriptures, and you’re not really sure if you’re going to find spiritual support there. 

Well, what do you do? This one’s a little clearer than some of the scenarios we’re about to get into. 

If I’m going to do what’s best for me spiritually, I’m going to turn down that higher paying job because having a spiritual family around me is more important for my longevity as a Christian. 

That’s how the lens we’re discussing here gives clarity to something that’s not bad. 

It’s not bad to take a higher paying job. It’s not bad to move. It’s not a bad decision. It just might not be the best decision. 

What about a question or a decision? 

For instance, thinking about whether you should join this small group or that small group? If you’re torn between two seemingly equally good decisions, ask yourself what is going to give you and your family at this point in your lives the best chance to do well spiritually. 

The response that comes to you might mean being in a small group that challenges you more because you recognize I need to be challenged to grow. It doesn’t necessarily mean the one that is tailored to fit to your needs is the best, but ask yourself to figure out which one is really going to help you the most spiritually in the ways that seem to make sense at this time in life. 

Here’s a decision that I’ve wrestled with. Should I take my wife on a date tonight or jump into a Bible study with somebody? Well, I can make a case for both. Both of those seem really important. And in an ideal world, I would do both. But if I only have to choose one, how do I do that? 

Depending on what’s going on in my relationship with my wife at the time, and you know what the situation is with the Bible study, I could go either way, depending on the week, depending on the month, and so on  I always try to approach it with this lens and that’s just really helpful for me and hopefully it will be helpful for you.

With all the information currently at your disposal, ask yourself what gives you and your family the best chance of doing well spiritually? Roll with that!

Throughout your life, you’ll be faced with many dilemmas — some with more clear answers than others. If you strive to make the decision that gives you and your family the best chance of doing well spiritually, that’s the best you can be expected or hope to do in the end. 

An area that some Christians have different beliefs and behavior is about whether or not Christians should use curse words. 

It probably doesn’t take much thought to know where you fall on this particular question, either unequivocally, no, or, it’s not really a big deal. 

Your belief may have several origins, and either be long-standing or new, or have fluctuated over years or decades, or been different ways with different people in a different context, or entirely the same for as long as you can remember.

Before I  attempt to give an answer and before I can really feel like I’m responsibly wading into these waters, I think it’s vital to have an agreement on what it means to be a Christian. 

To be on the same page, that we’re all coming from a similar place with that understanding is imperative. 

Once we have a biblical understanding of how God identifies Christians, that’s really the only person whose opinion matters. Once we settle on that I think we’ll be able to more easily tackle questions about the kind of language we should or shouldn’t be using. 

In 1 John 2, there’s a passage that quite clearly lays out what it means to follow Jesus, be a Christian, and what God looks for in people that he would identify as Christians. 

1 John 2:3 says:

 “We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. If we keep His commands, whoever says I know him but does not do what He commands is a liar. And the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him. Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.”

This passage even echoes something that Jesus says over in Luke, Chapter 6, verse 46, where in response to some people calling Jesus “Lord”, He says, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I say?” 

So, a couple of things here, right? 

There are really two things that God looks at that are requirements for being a true Christian or a Christian as God seems to define Christian. 

First, you have to obey God’s commands. 

That’s not something that is up for debate. 

If you’re not willing to obey God’s commands, if you’re not willing to do what He says, then you just are not a Christian. That’s just how it is, right? 

That would be like saying that you are an employee, but then whenever you’re asked to do something, you refuse, or you say, “No, I don’t really feel like doing that today.”

After a while, the boss is gonna fire you. It’s just kind of the nature of working for someone. It is how the definition of “employee” has its meaning.

It’s the same way with Christianity: You cannot be a Christian and choose not to live by God’s commands. 

The second thing that I think really jumps out is at the end of the passage we just looked at it says: Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did. 

Notice the phrase here: It’s not whoever claims to live in God. Whoever claims to have a relationship with God should probably go to church sometimes or should be a nice person, right? 

It says they must live as Jesus did, period. 

Like that. 

That’s the end of the sentence. 

That’s it. 

God’s commands us to live like Jesus because believing in God — meaning the God of the Bible — just going to church and being a nice person does not make you a Christian, right? 

You can do all of those things and never follow God or never follow Jesus. 

I want to really clearly spell this out: A Christian is a person who obeys God’s commands and lives as Jesus did. That’s it. 

All right. 

So, should that person use curse words? 

Should someone that is obeying God’s commands and striving to imitate, imitate Jesus used curse words? 

Well, not according to Paul. 

If you look at Colossians 3:5, Paul says this about the life that we should be living as Christians.

Paul says:

“Put to death. Therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived, but now you must also rid yourself of all such things as these anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.”

Paul is saying here — and the reason he’s kind of laying it out this way is when you become a Christian — is that you have to leave your old life behind. 

You cannot follow Jesus and obey God’s commands while also continuing in your former way of life. 

Paul puts filthy language or cursing right along the side of things like sexual morality, greed, and rage. 

In Paul’s mind and in God’s mind, filthy language, swearing, cursing, coarse jokes, those things have no place in the life of a Christian.

If you are really focused on obeying God’s commands and following Jesus and living a life just the way that Jesus did, then filthy language should not be a part of your life.

At the end of the day, I just want to leave you with this: You can’t pick and choose which parts of the Bible you want to follow and which parts you want to ignore. 

It’s all or nothing, but considering everything that God is offering to us in return — namely forgiveness of our sins and eternal life in heaven — it’s really not too much to ask for us to obey his commands and to be like Jesus 

I believe it is important to serve outside your comfort zone. Part of my practical Christian training is to push comfort boundaries. 

I will never forget the first time that I led a song. I was a freshman in college, and as a part of a small church of only about 12 people, we were having one of our midweek services in a group member’s living room. The person who normally led our songs wasn’t there for some reason, like illness or something. I clearly remember being asked to lead some songs, and I was kind of confident in my natural response to being asked. 

That’s probably the best way I can describe it. I was semi-confident because I knew the songs I was going to lead forwards and backward. 

But I was also pretty anxious because I had never actually led songs before. This anxiety was with me the whole time. It seemed to go fine, but I didn’t shake the anxious feelings until it was all done.  Afterward, everybody was extremely encouraging and telling me, “thank you for leading the songs.” I was glad I did it. 

I was glad that I stepped up to the plate, met a need and, and was able to lead songs in a way that served the group. 

What I didn’t know it at the time, was that leading songs would come to be a recurring thing. I  led songs for several years in that church, and then led a worship ministry for several years at another church I was later a part of where my wife and I led the worship ministry together. 

I don’t think any of that growth would have happened if I didn’t stretch outside my comfort zone. 

 I’m a big believer in using your gifts. Like, a really big believer that people should use their gifts. 

When you’re able to use your gifts and serve God, it gives you confidence to be a more effective Christian in the world, and to bear fruit for God. 

While that’s important,  if you only do what you’re good at doing, and never do anything else, you’ll actually stunt your Christian growth. Why hold yourself back? Imagine going to the gym and working out only one body part. Whenever you go to the gym, you only work out your biceps. That’s pretty silly, right?

Plus, eventually, you’ll look really weird and off-kilter. You need balance. Similarly, it’s not wise to only serve in just one service area. You have other gifts, and you can develop other gifts that God will use. 

I want to encourage you to stretch outside your comfort zone, and to force yourself to put yourself in a position where you have to grow, every year. 

Choose one new way to serve. Deal? Don’t overwhelm yourself, and don’t throw everything out the window that you’ve learned about yourself or enjoy doing in your service choices. 

But every year, choose one new way to serve. Maybe keep track of how it’s going by journaling or talking with someone about it on some regular basis. Reflect on it after a year, and you might just be very pleasantly surprised!

I want to run through some examples — some ideas for you, to help you think about something you haven’t done before that you might be interested in learning how to do that you believe will stretch you and help you grow as a Christian.

The first idea is, I think, a simple one but you may have some anxiety about it if it’s outside of your comfort zone: Greet people when they walk into church on Sundays. You probably have a greeting team or a group of people that stand by the front doors and say, “Good Morning!” or “Hello” or “Welcome!” to people to help make them feel welcome. So, you might consider signing up for your greeting team for a period of time. 

A second idea is to consider serving in the children’s ministry. I don’t know of a single children’s ministry coordinator that has an overabundance of volunteers! They typically need people willing to serve in children’s ministry. People who serve in children’s ministry usually say they received blessings upon blessings from being a part of it It’s definitely very rewarding. But you do have to deny yourself from attending the normal church service on Sundays so, you can consider signing up for a children’s ministry rotation of some sort perhaps. 

Another idea, outside of the church building, is that you can think about hosting events in your home. Maybe you will want to be a host for the team ministry, and offer some nice hospitality and entertainment like a meal and a movie or game and hang out. Or, your home can just be the resource for them, a place where they can come and spend time together as a ministry. 

You can also think about signing up to be an Usher where you’re helping by passing communion and offering trays and helping people find their seats. 

Which of these can you imagine doing for this next year? 

If you really have a big heart and gift for manual labor, sign up for janitor or set up and break down duty by stacking chairs after service or cleaning the church, building, cleaning the bathroom so that when people come on a Sunday they have a pleasant experience throughout and you’re able to make a thoroughly good impression on your visitors. 

Or even further, maybe this is the year when you decide to start volunteering in your community, whether that’s a local soup kitchen, a homeless center, a hospital, a nursing home? Maybe you’re going to do some cleanups at the beach or in the park. Explore your community and decide that you’re going to do something that requires some sacrifice and some planning, and that is going to stretch you to be more like Jesus. 

Maybe this is the year when you finally learn to lead a small group. Perhaps you’ve been thinking about it — you’ve been contemplating, “Is this something I want to do? I have an idea, but I’m not sure if I’m good enough, ready, qualified…” 

None of us wants to fall, crash and burn. It might take some planning and counsel and prayer for some discernment about what’s best for you at this point in your life. Talk with people who know you for some input as well.

All these are just ideas. At the core of this service outside your comfort zone discussion is the practical takeaway for today: Don’t just do the thing that you’re good at doing. Become a well-rounded disciple. 

The truth is, the longer you’ve been a Christian, the easier it is to put your spiritual life in cruise control, and not try new things, not stretch yourself because you may be mistakenly thinking you’ve acquired enough spiritual talent and know your service knack to get by in an above-average way, where somebody looking from the outside in can’t really tell that you’re not giving your whole heart to your ministry. 

Not that it is at all about what others think, but don’t you want to grow into the best Christian you can be and discover more about yourself and how you can serve with your gifts?

When you constantly expose yourself to new ways of serving, you’ll grow more than you ever thought was possible.