Being a follower of Jesus is about more than becoming a good person.

We tend to think of Christians as nice people with kind hearts and happy dispositions. In general, I hope believers are considered good people, but it is so much more than that. 

A Christian is a person who is committed to learning the truth, knowing the truth, and teaching the truth.

A Christian is someone who loves their friends, neighbors, and enemies. They pray for them and show them Jesus in their actions.

A Christian serves the Lord with their gifts, talents, and abilities in the Church and the world.

A Christian connects to other believers so they can support them and, in turn, receive help in times of trouble.

A Christian gives sacrificially to those in need and to the work of the Lord. They are generous to others and happy to share some of their God-given resources.

A Christian is committed to becoming like Jesus in every area of life, from their tongue to their schedule and thoughts.

A Christian tells others about Jesus, his impact on their lives, and how he could change theirs for the better.

A Christian is a leader who stands for morality for their school, community, state, and country.

When I die, I do not want people to say of me, “He was a good person.”  I want them to say, “He was a Christian.”

I have followed my favorite comedian for the past three years. By following him, I mean listening to his podcast every week. Often, I listen to it initially and then return to watch it on YouTube later in the week. He and three friends share stories of their lives, their experiences as comics, and part of their quirky personalities.

I also follow his social media feed, where he shares information about his life and tour. There is also a Facebook group comprised of podcast listeners who share their stories about seeing him perform or meeting him in person after a show.

Finally, I have seen him perform three times. I have also watched his three one-hour specials and his half-hour on Netflix. Before that, he had two CDs and a show on Comedy Central. All of these I have digested multiple times.

Through all his material, I have come to know him well. He has shared numerous stories of his upbringing, life, family, and plans for the future.

Recently, he had the opportunity to host Saturday Night Live. What fascinated me was how many of his fans, like me, reacted. They posted how it felt like a family member was getting his shot at greatness. Others shared how it felt like an old friend had made a success of his life. People wrote about all kinds of beautiful feelings about him getting this opportunity.

Here is the funny part. NONE of them know him personally. They only know him through the material he produces. While they feel very close to him, he has no idea who they are. He has never eaten with them, shared a personal moment, and has no affection beyond them being a fan. They view him as a friend, and he doesn’t know the first thing about them. It is a one-sided relationship.  

Why do I tell you all this? Because this is how many preachers feel.

Their congregation may love them, but they feel overwhelmingly lonely. They have no real friends. No one invites them into their lives and homes. They know a lot about him from the material he produces but nothing personally. 

There are significant differences between being a fan and being a friend. 

Most people are kind to me. Each week, someone will tell me how much they were blessed by the sermon or how one of my blogs spoke to their situation in life. They will share how a devotion or a lesson was instrumental in their thinking and walk with God.

My secret to success is simple:  Keep showing up.

I have committed to producing my best work every single day. That means I show up when I don’t feel like it. I write and work even when I would rather be someplace else. I am always in the office early and have my mind working. I sometimes preach and publish items I know are not as good as I hoped, but I keep putting them out there daily and weekly.

One amazing part of working for God is that if you keep teaching, preaching, writing, and talking, God will take one of those interactions and use it for good.

Having an impact for God takes less skill than one might think; it is more about doing the work over and over again. You keep showing up until God shows up to use your efforts.

She loved the book and could not speak highly enough about its impact on her life. Then, four weeks later, during a similar conversation, she stated how she did not like the book. 

What happened?

During that time, she had talked with several other people who I knew disliked it. Her opinion changed because of her friends. Her attitude went from good to bad, all because of the people she spoke with about her reading.

There is a warning in this experience. Whenever I have a bad attitude toward someone or something, I have to ask myself, “Do I feel this way because of my own thoughts and encounters, or am I adopting my feelings from someone else?”

But I really want to flip this concept over and see the good in our adopted attitudes. You also have the power to influence the people around you for good. If you always speak positively about that person, others may adopt the same attitude. If you speak well of that place or that activity, you can sway the emotions of others. If you shine a positive light, others will begin seeing what you see. 

I like venting my frustration to others and forget how it impacts their views. Each one of us can use that same power for good and bring joy instead of gloom.  

There are two directions in which you can compare your life. You can compare yourself to those above you or those below you. 

Let me clarify. You can look at your life and see how it aligns with people who have more than you or those who have less than you. This happens in every facet of life.

I can look at my marriage, children, house, clothes, vehicles, toys, and finances and then at my neighbor with a better-looking spouse, more intelligent children, more square feet, a new SUV, a boat, and a big bank account. I can feel disappointed in my situation. This can lead me to a sense of discouragement, failure, less satisfaction, and ingratitude. It can even push me toward evil in my heart as I begin to covet my neighbor’s things and break the tenth commandment.

The other option is to look at people who have less. They may not be married, even though they want to be, have no children, struggle to pay rent, thrift store clothes, broken down vehicles, no toys, and an empty bank account. Suddenly, everything you have seems like more. It can make you be grateful for what you have and realize how blessed you are. Now, be careful; this can also be harmful as it can also make you prideful and feel more valuable than others. 

One reason many people feel dissatisfied with their lives is because they are constantly comparing up. Someone else has more or better things in their life. The truth is that you have so much more than so many others, especially on a global scale. 

God has blessed each one of us abundantly. It is easy to forget that when the Joneses have so much more.

The old question is, “How do you eat an elephant?”

The answer is, “One bite at a time.”

The question for you might be … “How do I know my Bible better? How do I have a better marriage? How do I lead my children to Jesus? How do I become more generous? How do I increase my influence?” You may want to know how to do this enormous thing right now. It feels like there is no way you could ever accomplish this massive feat.

The only way to do it is to take one tiny bite after another until you reach your goal.

Today, you can do one small thing that will lead you to the life that God desires for you. Then you can do something else tomorrow, one thing the day after, and so on.

Stop dreaming. Stop making excuses. Stop blaming your life situation on being busy.

Make time for one thing, and you can accomplish almost anything.

The Church building is not the house of God. 

In the Old Testament, the temple was the house of God. It contained the ark of the covenant and was the very presence of God among his people. The Psalms are full of statements about the excitement of going to the Lord’s house. When someone went to Jerusalem, it was a big deal, as they would be able to go to the temple and worship. 

Christians, unfortunately, have adopted the same language, and I fear the same concepts. They will often call the Church building the House of the Lord. A worship leader says happily, “Isn’t it good to be in the house of God?” And people will respond with cheers, applause, and “Amen.”

The Church building is never referred to in the New Testament in this way. The Lord does not live in buildings made by human hands. In fact, a few passages give us a completely different understanding. Hebrews 3:6 states, “and we are his house,” in reference to Christians. The Apostle Peter, in his letter to the Church, writes, “You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5). The Apostle Paul will tell the believers in Corinth that “You are God’s temple (1 Corinthians 3:16). Elsewhere he will call individual believers’ body’s “the temple of God” as well. 

When people come to follow Jesus, they are filled with the Holy Spirit, and their body becomes a vessel for God. Then, when the group of believers get together, they are the house of God. A spiritual house where the Lord reigns and works. Christians have access to God without going to Jerusalem, having a physical temple, and without a priest to intercede. 

Christians need no longer say, “Isn’t it good to be in the house of the Lord,” they need only say, “Isn’t it good to BE the house of the Lord.”  

It is easy to believe things about ourselves despite all evidence to the contrary.

We might think we are a great spouse, but you cannot remember the last time you spent an evening together in happiness.

We might believe that we are committed Church members, but when the numbers are tracked, we attend worship less than half of the Sundays in a year.

We might have strong convictions about how good of a friend we are to others, and yet we have no real friendships, and the ones we do enter never last very long.

We might have no doubt that we are generous without ever auditing our books. 

It is easy to fall into this gap between what I believe about myself and what the evidence truly reveals. Self-evaluation can never be based on personal feelings; they will always lead us astray.

One way to grow as a person is to do a regular audit, at least annually, of my beliefs about myself versus the hard facts. No one wants to expose their failures, but it is only by knowing reality that we can begin to make changes to improve.

The man interviewed on the podcast made a statement, and I stopped dead in my tracks. He said exactly what I had thought. He articulated a feeling that has haunted my mind for years.

Whenever this happens, it causes me to stop and thank the Lord that I am not alone. 

Reading the Bible has the same effect on me most days. I read of one of the Biblical characters and think, “I thought I was the only one.” It could be Jonah running from the Lord, Abraham lying about his wife to avoid conflict, Samson or David struggling with lust, Paul being rejected by former friends, or Jesus having his sermons ignored. Whatever situation I find myself in, there is a story in the Bible that articulates what I am thinking and feeling. 

One of the truly great things about being a Christian is knowing we are never alone. Someone, somewhere on the pages of scripture, has felt and thought the way we do, and there is a lesson we can learn from them. Reading the Bible is how we learn about God and ourselves, but it reaches a new level when both happen simultaneously.

Regularly, I preface something I will say with, “I don’t mean this mean.”

A direct, blunt statement of truth usually follows that introduction.

It is a habit I have developed over a lifetime of ministry as the result of telling people the truth they did not want to hear. I have found that whenever you give someone the unfiltered, straightforward truth, it is usually not received well. People respond by calling me a jerk, mean-spirited, and even unchristian.

As followers of Jesus, we are called to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15, 25-32). This one instruction is challenging for most of us. Once we tell someone the truth, and they respond with fury and vitriol, we back off from doing it again. 

The side effect is that it is extremely difficult to get people who care about us to tell us the truth again. They gloss over our shortcomings and make excuses for our poor behavior. Giving half-truths and sugarcoated honesty is much more pleasant than going through that frustration again. 

If we have someone who will speak the truth in love to us, treat them as more valuable than gold. We know that they don’t mean it in a mean way.