Then what happens? What happens after we have confessed our faith, repented of our sins, and been baptized into Jesus? What then?

I explain it by using marriage as an analogy. A wedding is vastly different than a marriage. A wedding is an event. Marriage is a process of becoming one. 

Unfortunately, just like marriage, too many people are focused on the big event and not the long-term commitment.

One pastor friend used to take out a paper calendar. He would tell people, “If you decide to follow Jesus, please understand that impacts every day after. It will impact where you go to college, who you will date, which job you take and where, who you marry, what you will do for fun, and what you will do every Sunday for the rest of your life.”

Following Jesus is more than saying you would like him to save you from your sins. It is daily waking up and saying that you are going to live for him. He is both Savior and Lord.

The park map was laid out with colored walkways. If you start on the red trail, it will lead you back to the parking lot. Start on the blue trail, and you will eventually have to get onto the green trail to get to the parking lot. A dozen trails, all color-coded for where each one would lead you. Every path had a predictable ending.

If only life were so easy. You start heading in one direction, and it is clear exactly where your life will end.

What if it was somewhat predictable?

Would it change our behavior if we knew what would happen if we made certain decisions?

If you knew where these paths led, would you still take them, or would you change?

Some things are clear. When you neglect your spouse emotionally and physically, you will eventually divorce. When a dad is not the leading influencer in his children’s lives, especially girls, they will have long-term issues with self-image. When you say one thing and do another, you lose credibility in the eyes of those around you. When you value everything else over your spiritual life, you will eventually abandon the faith.

Our lives are often quite predictable, which is why counseling and therapy work for so many. The problem is that most of us are convinced that if we are sincere in our efforts, the blue path will go wherever we want, not the one that is already marked out.

Instead of being all over the place in your service to the Lord, what if you focused your attention on one or two areas of ministry? Do a few things really well as opposed to lots of things partially.

When I was young, a preacher illustrated it to me with a laser. He would say that light can fill a room, but when it is extremely focused, it can cut through metal.

It is wonderful to attempt several different ministries as you start serving the Lord. When you see an area where you feel gifted and are seeing results, then focus your energies there. Be the best worship leader, children’s teacher, greeter, cook, or whatever you can be for the glory of God.

Determine where God is taking your unique life and skill set and head that way with reckless abandon.

Stop lying to yourself and saying, “After this, it will get easier.”

After this season of sports, my kid’s life, my work situation, the holidays, this family transition, or even a season of rest, we are convinced life will be different.

After that current situation, it will be easier to pray, read my Bible, attend a small group, serve in ministry, invite people into my home, or be more generous.

That is a lie you keep telling yourself because it will never be easier. There will always be a new season in which things are a struggle. Time will always be limited.

The difference between people who have a thriving spiritual life and those who don’t is not the number of issues in their lives; it is the willingness to include God in every season they walk through, even the ones where it is difficult to do so.

This is also called the “Argument from Authority.” Perhaps it is better understood as “The Misattribution of Authority.”

Simply stated, just because someone is an expert in one field does not qualify them to be an expert in other areas.

Some examples are easy to see. Your mechanic may be the best on the planet, but that does not qualify him to give marital advice. Someone might be a great ball player, but that does not mean you should listen to their thoughts on investing your finances.

Other examples are more complicated. A famous actor may not be the best person to teach morality. A popular writer might not be the person who should give psychiatric advice. A well-known podcaster is not your best source for unbiased news. And even a preacher, like me, needs to know his limits.

Be extremely careful when accepting someone’s authority on a topic because you like what they have to say about some other subject. People are often led astray by those with good intentions.

This Sunday, I am preaching about loneliness and our lack of close relationships.

One thing I do not address is our desire to remain distant. While it is easy to say we would like to have people close to us, it is also less intrusive to keep them at a distance.

It is much easier to fool people and make them think you have your life together and are a committed believer, great spouse, or parent at a distance.

Use a few of the correct phrases, and people will think you are growing as a Christian. Be seen in a few of the right places, and people will believe your relationships are strong. Post a few of the best pictures on social media, and the charade is complete.

For many of us, the question is not, “Do I want close friends?” Instead, it is, “Do I want to let people get to know the real me?”

Sometimes I play a game inside my mind that I call, “Would you rather?”

When I hear about a situation that someone is going through, I ask myself, “Would I rather this happen or that happen?” This helps me clarify my values and assess what I am doing in my present situation.

For example, would I rather serve the Lord every day for the next twenty years, or would I rather have six months to leave a powerful testimony through a difficult situation? Possibly, I might think, would I rather give away a large sum of money to change someone’s life one time or give away a little money to a lot of people over a lifetime? One last one: would I rather have one extra close friend or have five people who I am relatively close to as a friend?

It is a silly little game, but it helps remind me that life is rarely made up of big moments and events; it is about the daily actions over a lifetime. If I am presented with an opportunity to do something great, I will always be ready, but greatness is usually the result of a lifetime of small investments of our faith.

Your actions reveal what is going on in your heart. They reveal what you genuinely feel.

Your words reveal what is going on in your mind. They reveal what you genuinely think.

If those two things are not aligned, then your actions supersede your words.

If you say you love someone and then treat them poorly, you don’t truly love them.

If you say, you don’t depend on a substance, but you cannot make it through the day without it. Then you are addicted.

If you say you are a follower of Jesus and then do not do what he says, you are not a Christian.  

In the end, you must be brutally honest with yourself about what your actions are showing the world, no matter how much you protest that you believe something different. A heart for Jesus will lead to doing the things Christ desires for your life.

The journey of faith is not about arrival; it is about the transformation that is made along the way.

What type of person you are becoming needs to be evaluated regularly.

Are you becoming a more grace-filled person?

Are you becoming a person of greater joy?

Are you becoming a person with a deep faith?

Are you becoming more like Jesus?

At present, you and I still have numerous flaws. Given enough time, let’s try to overcome those issues and become the people God designed us to be.

Everyone’s instinct is to read the Bible for understanding.

I totally appreciate this desire because the Bible has been so poorly understood through the years. We must look at the context, find the author’s intended meaning, and consider how it fits into our overall theology.

One problem with this push to understand is that some things we will never know completely. The Bible often records things that happen with little explanation. We can read that it happened, but we will never fully know what it means this side of heaven. This does not stop people from guessing and can lead to an endless stream of articles and arguments that typically prove unproductive.

Another issue is that gaining understanding can miss the purpose of scripture. The goal of the Bible is to change us into fully devoted followers of Jesus. Christians are people who do everything that Christ commanded (Matthew 28:20). Jesus himself said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24). The result of scripture should be that we do what we read and nothing less.

My instruction to people is to read the Bible and look for ways they can apply it. Skip past the complex parts to understand, as they are usually more fodder for arguments than application. The ironic part is that the more you keep reading and applying, the clearer those hard-to-understand passages become.

It is far better to know only ten things from the Bible and do all ten of them than to learn a hundred things and do none of them.