Many young adults are genuinely confused with regards to anything spiritual or metaphysical. Others choose to ignore such topics all together. And still, many others don’t know how to grow their relationship with God.
While I believe that such matters must be addressed and analyzed from a person’s youth, it is not my place to judge your beliefs or the lack thereof. I will say one thing, though: it is of utmost importance to know where you stand or whether at all you stand.
Yet, my concern is neither of those things.
I’m concerned about the young adults who prescribe to a faith, but fail to practice it. The reasons for this are many: a busy schedule, lack of guidance, or pure laziness.
More specifically, I’m concerned about all the Christ-followers who don’t do any following; the God-seekers who don’t seek.
Why do you need to consider this topic if you fall under the above category? Because nothing you do is going to have any meaning or bring you any happiness apart from God.
And what a pity it would be to spend your life pursuing academic success, financial success, relational success, and every kind of thing that promises joy and still end up miserable…
What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could ‘be like gods’—could set up on their own as if they had created themselves…invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.
~ C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (pg. 49)
This said, let’s dive into how exactly you can grow your relationship with God to prevent any of that from happening.
- Prioritize Your Thoughts and Actions
If you aren’t clear about your priorities and what exactly you want to think and do, then you will be victim to whatever thought falls in your head. So, you must be clear on your priorities.
What do you value? What do you deem most worthy of your time and energy?
For my fellow Believers, Christ must come first. It’s not a personal preference. It has nothing to do with your subjective goals and lifestyle. God has to come first. Period.
What do I mean by that?
Well, if you are a true Christ-follower, then you know full well how undeserving we all are to be alive one more day under His grace on this planet. So, how dare we not give him the first priority in our lives and thoughts?!
If we believe the former, but don’t do the latter, then we are hypocrites. Lukewarm Christianity is less tolerable to God than not believing at all. You must be all in or completely out.
I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
(Revelation 3:15-16)
This is some serious business, folks. Nobody in the church wants to explicitly cite these verses because we want to stay in our comfortable little corners and cater to everybody’s feelings and preferences. But if I did that, then I don’t truly care about you.
And while I can’t claim to know what God means by “spitting,” I know that if God is gonna do any kind of spitting, then I don’t want to be involved. Thus, I’m gonna be on fire for Jesus.
You should consider that, too.
God is clear on what He wants of His people. He wants us hungry for Him, always seeking Him, always putting Him first.
We were created for continual communion with Him. Not because He is some kind of power-hungry being, but because He loves us so much and wants us to be happy. And nothing, in all of existence, besides Him can make us happy.
2. Start Your Day with Worship & Gratitude
What we focus on is what we see more of. Focus on your blessings and you will see more of them.
What’s the difference between gratitude and worship? Gratitude is being thankful for the blessings. Worship is having Someone to thank.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
Psalm 100:4-5
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Us Believers should be in rapture every day of our lives. We have a guaranteed eternity in the presence of the One Being that all of our hearts desire and can’t get enough of!!! If nothing in your life makes you grateful, then think about that.
Think about what Christ has done for you, on the cross, and in His life. Think about your Redemption, your glorious future as a son or daughter of the Most High King.
When your heart grasps these concepts for just a few seconds, you will fall on your face in worship because God’s presence produces nothing short of that.
3. Seek to Serve Not Be Served
To grow your relationship with God, you must represent Him well to others. That means not being selfish, inconsiderate, or egotistic.
Christianity leaves no room for us to be conceited or prideful. If you have encountered Christ and spend time in communion with Him everyday, the fruit of the Spirit will show on your life.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23
All of these wonderful traits translate into the practical service of others. That’s the beautiful thing about Christianity: its absolute practicality.
Help others in every way you can. Show love, meekness, and patience in every interaction with others. Rely on God to use you and show Himself through you. And don’t wait for others to serve you back.
There is no limit to what you can do for others and how much you can give when you are in continual dialogue with God. Why? Because you are not giving from yourself or your own efforts. You are simply taking from the Source That Overflows, the Well That Always Runs-over.
Serving makes us happy, whether you admit it or not.
Therefore, we give, fall in love with the feeling of being givers, and then run back to God to take more so that we can give again. It’s a cyclical process that guarantees an absolute focus on growing your relationship with God every day (so that you have something to give).
4. Do it All For the Glory of God
Whether you work part-time at Papa John’s, play club baseball, or count bank statements in your Financial Literacy 101 class, DO IT ALL FOR HIS GLORY.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Colossians 3:23-24
What we do matters less to God than the reason we do it. Not all Christians should be preachers. You don’t have to carry a Bible downtown with a cross around your neck and a “Jesus Saves” bumper sticker on your car to show Christ to the world.
You seek Him first. You know Him first. You fall in love with Him first. Then you serve Him through serving others, and the “others” will see that.
People aren’t spiritually blind (though they may act like it). The biggest testimony we can offer the world is being a live testament to Christ’s transformative power.
We can each live our normal lives in our jobs, shopping centers, schools, and communities and still bear witness to God.
And you know what that does? It strengthens you. It deepens your relationship with God and releases more of His power in your life.
Lastly, my friend, I urge you to deeply consider real commitment to this topic and these actions. It will do you no good to have all of the riches of this world and lose out in the next. It is also illogical to know that Someone came to freely give YOU a better life and not accept that offer.
If you would like to chat about anything related (or unrelated) to this topic, you can reach out to me by email at fevetibrahim@studentsacelife.com or text me at 503-515-2165. It would be a great pleasure to speak with you eternally loved soul made in the image of God.