Four daily Christian practices to cultivate

“As age increases so do the bones for good atrophy, for what has not been used till now cannot be used at all.”

Have you ever heard someone share their someday plans? You probably have.

For many of us, there are certain things we believe we will do after we have achieved certain life marks. Some common ones are, I will—

1. Start giving after I earn x amount.
2. Volunteer in my community when I join management.
3. Travel around the world when I retire.
4. Make time to pray and spend time with God after I’m married and have kids.

The last one is hilarious. Yet we often believe these things and justify our reasoning on the sinking sand of worldly wisdom.

I know I have been guilty of a few of these.

Over the past week, I have heard the words of Galatians 6:9 read out by a few people. while pondering on these verses and the lessons from my recent experiences, I realised there are a few more things we must never grow weary of doing.

Can you guess what they are? You probably can.

Here are four things we should never grow weary of doing:

1. Praising God
2. Loving others
3. Trusting God
4. Doing good

Four practices to cultivate every day.

1. Praising God

Praise is an incredible weapon we Christians have. It is one that is seldom used or understood. For many of us, praise is something we do in communion with others and hardly ever with God alone.

I encourage you not to wait till your next Sunday service or midweek praise night to worship your Father. Scriptures remind us that our lord inhabits in the praises of His people.

More so, the words of Psalm 100 provide a snapshot of the power of praise. Spend time and meditate on these words.

Here are some worship song suggestions.

2. Loving others

The 2^nd greatest (and 2nd most important) commandment is the command to love others as ourselves.

You and I both know this is not as easy as it seems. Humans are the hardest to understand and ultimately to love, especially when we include those who we deem unlovable.

Yet, the apostle Paul writes extensively on how we can love others. He itemises the character and practice of love in 1 Corinthians 13 (the love chapter) using words that denote selflessness, sacrifice, forgiveness, and humility.

You can tell that these are heavy words, yet they are part of the beautiful life our lord is calling us to.

 

3. Trusting God

Here’s the truth – our ability to serve God is directly influenced by our ability to trust Him. The more we trust God the more we can surrender to His will and obey His word.

Trust is a daily exercise of acknowledging:

• • The goodness of God.

You must recognise and accept the fact that God is good no matter what you face.

• • The Love of God.

Do you really believe that God loves you? Can your mind comprehend the fact that he died for you and loves you more than life itself (see Romans 8:38-39)?

• • The will of God.

If you believe God is good and that he loves you then you can believe that His will for you is good and for your benefit, even if His direction seems contrary to all you know and believe.

 

4. Doing Good

One of the express commands in the Bible for God’s children is the call to do good. You may wonder – what is considered good. Thankfully, the book of Isaiah provides some context for this:

Wash yourselves and make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.”

Isaiah 1:16-17

 

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor, he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.”

Isaiah 61:1

Isaiah 61:1 was quoted by our lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ in Luke 4:18, you may have noted the similarity between these verses and Isaiah 1. Though one distinction is that Isaiah 61 speaks more about spiritual liberation while Isaiah 1 is more about physical liberation/ restoration.

 

But here’s the reality of doing good…it can be tiring and burdensome. It is easy to get weary doing the good and right things. What do we do then? The Apostle Paul has some words for us:

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

Galatians 6:9-10

We are reminded of a reward for those who continue to persevere in God’s call to do good.

 

Know Your Source and ask for help!

In conclusion, it is important to highlight that our ability to do these four things rests on one key thing – the power of the Holy Spirit.

He is the one who gives us the power to will and do for our lord’s pleasure (see Philippians 2:13)

Furthermore, the Bible reminds us that he is our counsellor, our comforter and our friend. What more could we possibly ask for?

Our God has graciously given us all that we need for life and godliness, it is time we made the most of these blessings (see 2 Peter 1:2-3).

Whatever you do, I pray you never grow weary of these four things. Amen