Discovering Jesus

Wayne M. Warner

If, as Christians believe, life is God's gift to us, what we do with it becomes our gift to Him. Following are the steps taken by those who decide to be followers of Jesus Christ.

Following Jesus begins with accepting God's forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Sinful behaviour and selfish, materialistic living erode our lives. Turning from this sin and having faith in Jesus are like surrendering our personal means of transportation and accepting an airline ticket from God. The ticket is freely available, but we will not really experience God until we board the plane and trust our lives to Him as our pilot.

Jesus invites us to discover the personal joy of accepting His way. He wants us to invest our lives in journeying with Him, accepting His daily companionship.

The Bible provides us with an authoritative manual for knowing what God wants and for living the life of a Christian believer. Read it regularly. It is a map for a joyous journey, providing the right answer in the best of times as well as the worst of times.

God gladly shares His life with us when we pray. Daily prayer enables us to enrich the inner spaces of our lives. The personal impact can be powerful. Morris Abel Beer observed, "Who builds a church within his heart, and takes it with him everywhere, is holier far than he whose church is but a one-day house of prayer."

Our word "ethic" comes from the Greek term "ethos", which refers to a custom or habit. Following Jesus means living ethically in response to God's claim upon our life.

Such moral behaviour means walking in love with others and finds its true source in Jesus. Jesus gave Himself in loving relationships, and He counts on us to share His love with others. Living the Christian life means loving our neighbours as we love ourselves. It makes us givers rather than takers.

God often makes Himself known within the church. We grow spiritually as we worship God together with other Christian believers.

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