The truth for most of us is that we never imagined that living a life for Christ would be like this. We expected to always be living in His presence. We thought that we'd always be on fire for him - every moment of the day. We thought that for most of us, when we accepted Jesus into our lives, we had this picture of what Christianity was like. And for most of us, that image we held in our minds when we were washed new by the blood of Christ was crushed not long after. But just because our life in Christ isn't what we thought it'd be doesn't mean that it's not good.
We all fall short. None of us are perfect. That is just a universal truth that we must accept. Everyday each of us falls short of the glory of God. Whether it be forgetting to pray before we eat, saying a cuss word, being rude to the person who rings up your groceries, or any of the myriad of other things we seem to do everyday that causes us to lose out on a few moments of God's presence. The point is that, regardless of how holy or important we make ourselves out to be, there are times in our lives that we aren't living in the will of God. But the good thing about serving God is that those moments don't matter when you are under the blood. Accept that you failed and move on. Say a little prayer and keep going. God doesn't judge you because you made a spur of the moment mistake. If he was going to send us to hell for every shortfall, we would've been gone a long time ago. So, yes, we fall but that is because we are human. We were born imperfect, but we have a perfect God who's sacrifice on the cross 2000+ years ago wiped away all of out guilt.
When we get saved, we seem to imagine ourselves as these people with ever burning lights. We tend to think we'll have a fire inside of us every moment of every day. That's just not true. Yes, God will put a fire in your soul that burns brightly for him, but were human. There will be days when we decide to stay home and watch Netflix instead of going out and ministering to this lost world. There will be times when you want to be upset and angry my instead of showing God's love. That is just how life is. But again, we serve a God who keeps us close to his heart when we try to push him away. He whispers "child" when we scream "stranger."
Probably one of the biggest misconceptions that many new Christians have is that we will never endure hardship after becoming Christians. This statement just doesn't hold water (trust me, I speak from experience when I say this is completely false). Christianity isn't a get out of jail free card. Newsflash, falling in love with Jesus doesn't keep you from experiencing the torment of the devil. It does mean, though, that you can withstand the wiles of the devil. Being in Christ doesn't mean you'll always have rainbows and blue skies, in fact, you'll have many storms. But having a relationship with God means you are protected and the devil can't touch you. Pro tip: God doesn't hurt us, but sometimes he allows us to endure hardship to show us that we need to get our eyes back on him.
Regardless of the expectations we had going into being a Christian, the truth remains that it is never what we expected but it is so much more in every single way. There is a god on the throne that called us to be men and women on fire for him. Sometimes we fall short of that calling, but He will always pull us back up. Following God is never easy but it's so worth it. Our walk isn't perfect but it's inspiring. Faithful he gas been and faithful He will always be. So, whether hard times or good times, don't lose heart. God called you to his side for a reason.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
- 2 Corinthians 5:17
