God hasn't changed my life

[Mitchell]

I became a Christian in early 2014 - I started going to church, reading the bible, bible study and praying regularly and I have to be honest... god hasn't really changed my life. I hear people all the time say their life is perfect now because of god and that their life has been changed. However, unfortunately I can't say the same. I feel as if I've changed for the better in some ways but I'm mostly the same I was before I became a Christian - I would describe my experience with god as very mediocre. I won't lie some weeks I have stronger faith than other weeks - some weeks I'll read the bible daily and pray daily whilst other weeks I might only do it once or twice a week. But I've never fallen away from god in that I haven't ever rejected god. I don't know it's hard, I feel disheartened. If someone asked me has god changed your life... the honest answer would be no. What can I do.

Thank you for your time and help, god bless.

 

[puddleglum3]

I became a Christian in early 2014 - I started going to church, reading the bible, bible study and praying regularly and I have to be honest... god hasn't really changed my life.

I feel as if I've changed for the better in some ways but I'm mostly the same I was before I became a Christian - I would describe my experience with god as very mediocre. I won't lie some weeks I have stronger faith than other weeks - some weeks I'll read the bible daily and pray daily whilst other weeks I might only do it once or twice a week. But I've never fallen away from god in that I haven't ever rejected god.

You do realize that your seconds statement contradicts your first one, don't you? There has been a change in your life, even if it is a small one. A few people experience a dramatic and immediate change in their lives when they are saved but for most the changes are slow and gradual.

Also, you shouldn't necessarily believe anyone who says his life since his salvation has been perfect. Many of them make this claim because they think that is what should have happened at salvation and they are ashamed to admit the difficulties they have experienced.

 

[Thir7ySev3n]

'When the Pharisee who had invited [Jesus] saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner." Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." "Tell me, teacher," he said. Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?" Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said.' (Luke 7:39-43)

As the Scriptures establish (and as seems intuitively obvious) there varying sizes of "debts" owed to God, some larger, some smaller. If there was a smaller debt owed when you came to Christ for the forgiveness of your sin, there will be less change that is required in your life and by definition that will be less dramatic than some other testimonies and experiences. That doesn't mean you haven't been forgiven the same eternal separation from God that you would have been destined for absent of God's grace given through Christ's sacrifice. An eternal destiny towards the presence of God to enjoy and know Him forever qualifies as much higher than a dramatic change in your life that has yet to be seen. The currently unseen rewards we wait patiently and expectantly for will always be far more dramatic than whatever we receive in our current state when we are still living within our sinful flesh. "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12)."

While with the right perspective nurtured through the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) our life with God will be abundantly joyful (John 10:10), it will still be full of trials and times of spiritual dryness that can occur for a variety of reasons to build and discipline the believers character (James 1:2-3, Proverbs 3:12). Our times of spiritual dryness are also the times we tend to seek God the most and be stirred from our complacency. Truthfully, you should see this discontentment of yours as a tremendous blessing because it is evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit in your life which rouses a hunger for God and to seek His presence continually. As Jesus said in John 6:44: "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day."

However, the fullness of the Christian life can not be enjoyed apart from complete surrender to God. This does not necessarily mean that everything you are currently doing is probably going in the wrong direction or sinful, or that God will replace your current job for one volunteering without pay, or that you will be forced out of your home by the impulse of the Spirit to live like a beggar in the streets. What it does mean is this: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil (Proverbs 3:5-7)"; "Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always (Psalms 105:3-4)."

I obviously am in no position to tell you what to expect in your life with Christ personally. How we are directed is up to God; How we respond to and experience His direction is up to us. An authentic Christian life can exist concurrently in two people who have a very different experience of that life. Sometimes our poor attitudes or unscriptural expectations (including of drama) will make it difficult to enjoy the simpler joys and glorious rewards of the grace we have in Christ. Selfishness can also make it difficult to embrace the love and mind of Christ we are given in His Name to reflect. Only through complete surrender and recognition of everything you have been given and even now possess can you enjoy the richness of the Christian life.

 

[Mediakira]

I became a Christian in early 2014 - I started going to church, reading the bible, bible study and praying regularly and I have to be honest... god hasn't really changed my life. I hear people all the time say their life is perfect now because of god and that their life has been changed. However, unfortunately I can't say the same. I feel as if I've changed for the better in some ways but I'm mostly the same I was before I became a Christian - I would describe my experience with god as very mediocre. I won't lie some weeks I have stronger faith than other weeks - some weeks I'll read the bible daily and pray daily whilst other weeks I might only do it once or twice a week. But I've never fallen away from god in that I haven't ever rejected god. I don't know it's hard, I feel disheartened. If someone asked me has god changed your life... the honest answer would be no. What can I do.

Thank you for your time and help, god bless.

My life changed when I got closer to Jesus, and the Father.

Don't worry your life well change. If it's not now it will be later in the future. It depends what you want changed. God can change your soul, spirit, and body. And the way of you live.

 

[John Davidson]

I became a Christian in early 2014 - I started going to church, reading the bible, bible study and praying regularly and I have to be honest... god hasn't really changed my life. I hear people all the time say their life is perfect now because of god and that their life has been changed. However, unfortunately I can't say the same. I feel as if I've changed for the better in some ways but I'm mostly the same I was before I became a Christian - I would describe my experience with god as very mediocre. I won't lie some weeks I have stronger faith than other weeks - some weeks I'll read the bible daily and pray daily whilst other weeks I might only do it once or twice a week. But I've never fallen away from god in that I haven't ever rejected god. I don't know it's hard, I feel disheartened. If someone asked me has god changed your life... the honest answer would be no. What can I do.

Thank you for your time and help, god bless.

Hi Mitchell,

Jesus is the logos. He is the Word. If you abide in him you will bear fruit.

You say you read the bible regularly. Do you attend church regularly? Do you read Christian authors? Do you listen to sermons online? The more plugged in you are to the logos the more fruit he will bear in your life and the more change you will see.

God Bless,
John

 

[aiki]

I became a Christian in early 2014 - I started going to church, reading the bible, bible study and praying regularly and I have to be honest... god hasn't really changed my life. I hear people all the time say their life is perfect now because of god and that their life has been changed. However, unfortunately I can't say the same. I feel as if I've changed for the better in some ways but I'm mostly the same I was before I became a Christian - I would describe my experience with god as very mediocre. I won't lie some weeks I have stronger faith than other weeks - some weeks I'll read the bible daily and pray daily whilst other weeks I might only do it once or twice a week. But I've never fallen away from god in that I haven't ever rejected god. I don't know it's hard, I feel disheartened. If someone asked me has god changed your life... the honest answer would be no. What can I do.

Thank you for your time and help, god bless.

There's a story in the Gospel of Luke about Christ having a meal with Simon the Pharisee during which a woman begins to wash Jesus' feet with her hair and tears. Simon condemns Jesus for letting the woman do as she is doing. Apparently, she is a woman of ill-repute, perhaps a prostitute, and Simon has only contempt and judgment for her - and Jesus. But Jesus knows Simon's thoughts and tells him a story about two debtors: one owed a great sum and the other comparatively little. They are both forgiven their debts. Jesus asks Simon which of the two debtors loved more the one who released them from their debt. Simon correctly chooses the one with greater debt. Jesus then draws a parallel between his story and the situation he is in with Simon and the weeping woman:

Luke 7:44-47
44 Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.
45 You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in.
46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil.
47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little."

What's Jesus saying here? Well, Simon loved Jesus not at all because Simon was unaware, in his towering self-righteousness, just how great a sinner he was. He had no idea he was at least as great a sinner - in his own way - as the woman washing Jesus' feet. And because he was unable to see his sin, he was unable to truly appreciate the one who would soon go to the cross and pay Simon's sin-debt (and the sin-debt of all the world).

Many people come to faith in Christ with Simon the Pharisee's attitude. They don't see themselves as the sinful wretch God says they are. And because they don't, they cannot properly appreciate the great act of love and grace that God performed in reaching down into the vile muck of their lives and rescuing them from their sin. They love God little because they believe they have little for which to be forgiven by Him. As a result, their walk with God is fundamentally flawed. You see, the basis for Christian living is love for God.

Matthew 22:35-38
35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,
36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"
37 Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
38 This is the first and great commandment.

The prayer, Bible study, church attendance, tithing, and Christian service in which Christians engage are supposed to arise out of a deep love for God. When this is the motivation for Christian living there is great joy and satisfaction in it. But when that love for God is missing or strangled by a sense of self-righteousness, the Christian life will seem dry, ritualistic and empty.

So, do you love God with all your heart, soul and mind? If not, why not?

Selah.

 

[longwait]

We all are a work in progress once we are born again. We do not change totally overnight. It takes time. But we should also put in the effort to walk with Him daily espacially now that the end seems to be close at hand.