Many believers do not count the cost of following Christ. One is told to accept the free gift of eternal life, repent of sins, join a church, and then learn to do the best one can concerning all the rest. One is usually not told about the cost of being a Christ-follower, nor does one have much of an idea of what God expects of them now that they are saved. Stewardship is entirely based on the first commandment, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Holy Bible, NIV, Mat 22:37). Stewardship is the product of one’s new worldview that is brought about by one’s conversion.
God’s attributes are typically broken down into two categories: Incommunicable (not shared) and Communicable (shared). Some of God’s incommunicable attributes are (taken from Doctrine: What every Christian should believe by Mark Driscoll and Gary Breshears): 1. Independence – God does not need us, or the rest of creation, for anything yet we, and the rest of creation, need him and can glorify him and bring him joy. 2. Unchangeableness – God is unchanging in his being, perfections, purposes, and promises, yet God does act and feel emotions, and he acts and feels differently in response to different situations.
In order to be humble, we must not pride ourselves in our own thoughts and opinions, but seek obedience through others and most importantly, God. With regards to the path of spiritual growth, this is step one for people who strive for unity with God. During the enlightenment period, “just as a treasure that is exposed loses its value, so a virtue which is known vanishes...so the soul is destroyed by praise and loses all the results of its labor” (59). Here, Amma Syncletica says that in order to keep the value of humility, and progress through this journey, we must not seek praise or acknowledgment for being virtuous. Once we become proud and accustomed to basking in the glory of being humble, or any other virtue, we lose all humility.
Faith without reason is impossible but with knowledge faith can be possible and know God and what all he has done. With faith you have to use your mind. “Conversely, Christian faith needs reason in order to communicate its beliefs clearly, to arrange those beliefs in a more systematic form, to guard it from straying into fanaticism, or error, and to provide answering to reasonable objections to those beliefs” (Albl 1). To understand faith you have to be able to reason with your beliefs. “Rationalism and materialism understand faith as, at best, a harmless opinion about matters that are not real” (Albl 30).
He thought that people believe in God because they have been taught as a baby to believe. Or, as he says elsewhere: “As I said before, I do not think the real reason why people accept religion has anything to do with argumentation. They accept religion on emotional grounds (users.drew.edu).” Russell thought it was fear that made people have faith in religion. As Russell begins his essay he starts with the question of God’s existence. His first criticism is the “proofs of God”.
This hierarchy of basic needs consists, in this order, of physiological needs, safety, love and belonging, esteem and self-actualization (Feist & Roberts, 2013). The Bible speaks about motivation and the way in which the motivation of believers should come from God not things of this world (Psalm 73:25, New Living Translation). In this world, people are motivated by self, however the Bible teaches that we are not to be centered on self, but instead surrender our lives and follow Jesus by serving and loving others (Matthew 23:11-12). Our lives should be motivated by the life of Jesus and His love for people. Using our lives to glorify God in all we do should motivate us to accomplish His will as we live surrendered lives to glorify Him.
(Merton 112) To trust one's self when one cannot trust in their creator, namely God, would be a complete contradiction. How can you trust yourself when you do not know where you come from? When you do not know why you are here or if there is any purpose in life how can you be sure in yourself? By having complete faith in God, it allows one to live their lives in the most fulfilling way possible. Once the faith in God is lost, continuing to go to Church out of habit or because you think that it is something that you should do, makes one no more of a Christian than standing in a garage makes one a car.
As a Christian we have authority over our life, and not our biology. Taking ownership over our life’s thoughts, actions, and behaviors will add greatly to our fellowship with Christ and others. Humanity is a in a fallen state. In the task of exploring positive avenues it will help decrease negative assumptions in a person’s life. Looking at one’s strength in characteristics and behaviors helps decrease negative emotions in a counseling setting (Harris, Thoresen,
Believing that God is searching for leaders to bring about changes on the earth, he begins the book by highlighting the principle: true greatness, true leadership, is found in giving yourself in service to others, not in manipulating others to serve you, admonishing, “we must put more into life that we take out," and that history will only remember a man for "the quality of his deeds and the character of his mind and heart" (15). Somewhere in the midst of this tension a true Christian leader will develop themselves and their abilities to be in service of God’s purpose. In the end, he writes, “Spiritual leadership is not a calling we choose to pursue; it is a calling we choose to answer. We don’t decide to become leaders; we decide to respond and keep responding to God’s call in our lives. Along the way, whether we like it or not, that involves us in leadership.” Although we can learn about leadership skills or develop and refine natural talents, spiritual leadership is a gift or grace of God bestowed to us, which we can accept or reject.
When we practice spiritual disciplines out of a deep desire to know and to serve God better, leads to transformation within and without. Actual change takes place within us by God’s power. Through our willpower and self-discipline are only able to put us in the right place so that real change can take place. Spiritual growth is the purpose of spiritual disciplines. The spiritual disciplines cannot produce change; they only place us where change can occur.