Being a Great Christian

Being a Great Christian

It is not a carnal desire to want to be great among your brethren. When the disciples asked Jesus about who will be the greatest among the disciple in Luc 22:26, Jesus did not reproach them for wanting to be great in God’eyes. Jesus redefined for them what it meant to be the greatest in the kingdom of God. The greatest in God’s eye will be the one who will be servant of others. The better we serve, the greater we are in the Eternal Kingdom. Chip Ingram in his 2007 book, “Good to Great in God’s eyes”, he gave 10 practices that great Christians have in common. The 10 were collected through plenty of Christians’ biographies over the history of Christendom. Below are 4 of those practices that I selected for my Saturday sermon at the Living Word Association at Diplomat hotel.

1.       Think Great Thought

During 12 years of research, Dr. Jack Kaskin professor at the University of Tennessee reported the result of the influence of the Media on how people think.  Two groups of people were subjected for 5 min a day with news. 1 group listened to bad news, while the other group (Control group) heard good news. After evaluating the groups, the control group which had positive news was more positive about life and had an uplifted mood. While the one with bad news reacted in 4 ways:

a.       They were more depressed; b. they believed the world was a negative place, c. they were less likely to help others, d. they began to believe that what they heard would soon happen to them.

Simply by receiving the 5 minutes of news per day from the radio, their concept of life were shaped. Whether we like it or not, what we think influences what we do or how we live.

How to remedy that? Philippians 4:8 gives us a way. It teaches us to always think great thoughts.

Here are areas where great thought could be thought about: 1) Think great thought about God: Rom11:33-36; Es. 55.; 2) Think great thought about yourself. Not in a vain way but in a responsible way: Zephaniah 3:17. ; 3) Think great thought about others, Do not despise people. See them as being people of value. Do not rely only on what you see. 1 Sam 16:7.; 4) Think great thought about the Future, Believe that you have a future and that you biography doesn't necessary means it is your destiny. Things can and will change in the future. Jeremiah 29:11.; 5) Think great thought about the past. Let us not be slave of our sad and unpleasant past experiences. Let us learn to contextualize our past. Philippians 3:13-14.; 6) Thing great thought about challenges. With challenges come the opportunity for new victories and a greater renown. James 1:2-4.

2.       Read Great books

Great people read great books, they mostly have that in common. This is a way we can lear from other people success or failure and see how best to apply or follow their examples without repeating their mistakes.

Read books that:

a)      Shape your world view: biographies. Eg. Happiest Men on Earth – Demos Shakarian; b) Shape your mind: Apologetics: Eg. Mere Christianity – C.S Lewis; c) shapes your heart: Eg. Books about prayers: Prayer Key of Revival – Paul Yongi Cho; Beyond Jabez – Bruce Wilkerson. d) shape your skills: Eg. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey. e) Shape your souls: Eg. Books by Derek Prince. f) The Bible, which is the book that will guide you in the area of your future book readings.

3.       Pursue Great People

Great Christians learn from the best. There is an Axion that says: We become most like those we admire and those with whom we interact most frequently. The book of Proverb 13:20, encourages us to walk with the wise. Hebrews 13:7, encourages us to imitated those who have shown exemplary faith. You can also learn from influential people by proxy, by making use of Tapes, Videos, Books, Phones and Internet, etc.

4.       Pray Great Prayers

Great Christians pray great prayers. Few things to know about great prayers: Great prayers are birthed in brokenness. There is a way that makes us also broken without experiencing the harshness of life; it is the practice of fasting. We always remember the reason why we fasted just like broken people remembers what broke them. Great prayers take God at his word: Nehemiah 1:3-11.