Walking with God, Step 1: Read the Book!

The first step to walking with God (once you have given your life to Christ), is reading your bible. How can you walk with God, if you have no clue where He's going, how He plans to get there, or what His values are for executing His plans. It always makes me chuckle a little, when people say they can't hear from God, yet do not read their Bible regularly. Think about this for a minute. God sent his son to die for all our sins: past, present, and future so that we could dwell forever in His presence blameless and pure. He sent us a "helper" called the Holy Spirit to help us discern His will. Lastly, but certainly not least, He has given us the full and complete word of God containing: 66 Books, 1189 Chapters, 31,173 Verses, and 774,746 Words. There are so many things God has already revealed to us, why not start there when you want to hear from God or know His will? I rarely feel God communicate to me as clearly as I do when I am reading the bible. Jesus himself refers to the scriptures when debating the Pharisees (Matt 21:42, 22:29, etc). New Testament writers time and again refer to the "scriptures" or the "word" as a basis for their belief that Jesus was the Christ, the savoir of the world. If the word of God was important to those who acutally spent time with Jesus in the flesh, should it not be important to us as well?

What are you building on?

In 1 Corinthians chapter 3 Paul is speaking on divisions within the church. People within the church are claiming to be disciples of Apollos, Paul, or whoever shared the Gospel with them. Paul is very clear on what name and who's power you should claim. Check out 1 Corinthians 3:10-15:

¹⁰By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. ¹¹For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹²If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, ¹³his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. ¹⁴If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. ¹⁵If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

As you assemble your life, your legacy, what are you basing it on? Are you basing it on the material things you can provide your loved ones? Are you basing it on the status that you will achieve? Are you leaning on your parent's accomplishments? Are you using your children as an excuse to not reach out to those with whom you have influence? The only legacy you leave that matters is the one that can't be touched by fire. The relationships you build, the lives you change, the souls you touch. The things you build on the foundation of Jesus pass the test of eternity. When is the last time you made an eternal difference in someone else's life?