Being a Christian is not easy

Nowadays, when secularity or worldliness is regarded as the norm, it becomes a challenge to be

a committed follower of Christ – and I am definitely NOT an exception to this fact. Don’t get me
wrong, I do what most Christians do. I go to church and I often have a part in the program, I pray,
I share my faith and the love of Jesus Christ to others, and I admit, I also sometimes correct others
and oftentimes convince myself that I actually am ‘above’ others in terms of faith and spirituality.
That last statement is definitely not the case and a mistake on my part.
I won’t say that I am the most ideal Christian and I won’t say that I’ve read the entire Bible and
other spiritual books which could make my relationship with God stronger, but as the days go by
that I learn more about Him through the little and irregular Bible study that I do with my family (be
it in church during Sabbaths, irregular worship, and random powerful urge of reading Spiritual
books), the more that I could clearly see what one should do to make a stronger faith in God.
Being a Christian is not something that one could lightly say. Being a Christian is not only a
statement. Being a Christian means that we are committing and devoting our lives to Christ,
denying your personal worldly wants and focusing on the mission that God has given us. It is a
lifestyle, therefore, being a Christian means that we are Christians every day. Not just on the
Sabbath day, or Sunday, or Monday, or any day. A Christian does not act like one only when he
or she is inside the church. It means that we should be glorifying God in anything and everything
that we do – THIS is what I admit that I often forget or in other cases, I deliberately ignore.
Paul said, “…whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31), but I usually
take this truth for granted.
Instead of searching and devoting my time to read the Bible and know more about Him, I waste
my hours binge-watching every K-drama or movies that I have. In my lifetime, I admit that I have
spent a LOT of time entertaining myself through reading Wattpad stories, watching movies, K-
Dramas, and momentary enjoyment – maybe even three times more than what I’ve spent for the
Lord.
Instead of talking with others with Jesus as the center of the conversation, I often end up talking
about insignificant things like criticizing other people or talk about the lives of others and throw
around curse words freely as if it is the most normal and acceptable thing. And yet I call myself a
Christian.
Instead of listening to heavenly or uplifting religious music, I still have popular pop songs in my
playlist – worldly music which contain foul language and talks about money, sex, or glorifying your
own self. And yet I call myself a Christian.
Most of the times, I compromise too and follow His commandments my own way – which is very
wrong and pretentious of me.
I share the importance of Sabbath to others and yet I sometimes consume fifteen minutes during
the Vespers just to finish that one episode.
I believe that Sabbath should be holy and that it is a day dedicated to worship and glorifying God,
yet I spend hours watching videos, posting a status, a picture or selfie, and sharing posts which
do not deepen my relationship with God at all. To lessen my guilt, I would convince myself that I
did nothing wrong and that Facebook is just harmless and does not make the Sabbath unholy.
But the truth is, it does take away the sanctity of the Sabbath and it does make me lose my focus
on what Sabbath is all about.
There may be some who might say, “OA” or “Old-school naman ‘to. Napaka old-fashioned napag-
iisip”. But it is not being OA or old-fashioned. It’s just that Jesus wants us to be a true Christian
and give our very best in following His example. One might say, “E wala rin namang perpekto.”.
And that is right. However, being human is not an excuse to commit sin. We cannot be a true
Christian with our own strength and power, but with God’s help, it is very much possible.
Despite the justifications and alibis we have, He reminds us time and time again that:
“For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-
14)
I realized that with this kind of half-baked or lukewarm faith, I would never be able to call myself
a true follower of Christ. His return is undeniably near. If we don’t fully commit our lives to Him
now, if we don’t give our best to follow Christ’s example, and if we don’t do everything for His
glory? When will we? Time is so short. Even if Christ would not yet return in another thousand
years, is it right to postpone committing our lives to Him when we know what is right and what
should be really done?
Despite spending time to write this, I most probably will commit another sin in the future, either
knowingly or unknowingly. But after getting this out of my chest and having reflected, I know I’d
be more careful and really think about the consequences of my actions and choices before acting
and ask God to help me when trials come. I would do my best to be a light unto the world and be
an instrument in spreading the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Again, this is all based on my experiences and the trials I’ve been through these past months. I
hope that my self-reflection made you pause and think about your relationship with God as well.

Happy Sabbath, brethren! 😊