{"id":1815,"date":"2013-10-01T06:50:11","date_gmt":"2013-10-01T11:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thomrainer.wpengine.com?p=1815"},"modified":"2021-07-15T17:27:10","modified_gmt":"2021-07-15T22:27:10","slug":"9-lessons-for-new-christians-and-old-ones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/9-lessons-for-new-christians-and-old-ones\/","title":{"rendered":"9 Lessons for New Christians . . . And Old Ones"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Chuck Lawless<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a long time since I became a Christ follower (39+ years ago), but I still think about what I wish I had known back then. You see, my first years as a believer were not easy. My family was not a Christian family. I was in my early teens, wanting to be faithful to God but also seeking to fit in with my peers. My church loved me, but discipleship was not intentional. I wish someone had helped prepare me for the journey.<\/p>\n

If I were writing a new believer\u2019s guide today for people like me, I would include a simple \u201clessons learned\u201d section with at least these lessons:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. It\u2019s okay to be a baby in Christ.<\/strong> Everybody in my Bible study class knew all the answers, it seemed. I watched as others found the Bible passage while I pretended to know the right page. Others knew the song lyrics by heart, and they knew exactly what to do at every church event. I didn\u2019t know any of that \u2013 and I was both awkward and ashamed. No one told me that every believer begins as a baby in Christ.<\/li>\n
  2. The Bible is not always easy to read.<\/strong> I was fascinated when I first started reading the Bible. Genesis was great, because I knew nothing about the beginnings of the world. The book of Exodus was equally exciting, filled with burning bushes, judgment plagues, dividing seas, and shaking mountains. But, then I reached Leviticus. . . . and I quit reading. I needed someone to help me when the reading became difficult.<\/li>\n
  3. The Christian life will have ups and downs.\u00a0<\/strong> We usually learn this lesson the hard way. Because I did not know Christianity has mountains and valleys, I assumed that the \u201cdown\u201d moments were the result of a lack of faith or an unconfessed sin. Sometimes that was the case, but sometimes God was stretching and testing my faith. Even the obedient believer can wrestle with a thorn \u2013 but I didn\u2019t know that.<\/li>\n
  4. You are not alone in your struggles.<\/strong> I was sure nobody else battled with temptation like I did. Nobody had sin lurking in the shadows like I did. Surely every other believer had conquered sin \u2013 at least, it seemed that way on Sunday. I was so certain of that truth that I didn\u2019t dare talk to anyone about my struggles. The result in my life was continued failure and increasing defeat.<\/li>\n
  5. The devil is real.<\/strong> In my young mind, the devil was a Halloween character rather than a supernatural enemy against God and His people. Because I didn\u2019t recognize the reality of the devil, I thought I could win spiritual battles in my own power. Prayer was not important, and cries for the power of God were non-existent. I was losing a war I didn\u2019t even know existed.<\/li>\n
  6. Many people don\u2019t pray well.<\/strong> The only prayers I heard then were prayers from the pastor, a deacon, or a Bible study teacher. The petitions were polished, eloquent, and deep (or so I thought then). I didn\u2019t always understand the words used, and I was certain I\u2019d never reach that level of praying. Little did I know these same folks often struggled in their private prayer life, and perhaps we could have helped each other grow in prayer.<\/li>\n
  7. Some people won\u2019t share your excitement.<\/strong> My Christian conversion was powerful. A friend had shared Christ with me, and I couldn\u2019t wait to tell others about Him. I was at times obnoxious with my evangelism. Rude, even. I just couldn\u2019t understand why anybody would choose not to follow Jesus. Had I known then that not everyone listens, perhaps I would have felt less defeated in my evangelism efforts.<\/li>\n
  8. Churches are not perfect.<\/strong> I was unprepared for the tares among the wheat, the sin in the camp, the arrogance among the redeemed. It was years of discouragement before I realized that Jesus Himself had a fake in His group, and the apostle Paul loved a church as messed up as the church at Corinth. It took some time for me to learn that the church exists for the sick and the needy \u2013 that is, for people like me.<\/li>\n
  9. God will always be faithful.<\/strong> Perhaps you learn this lesson only through the years, but I wish someone would have challenged me then to trust \u2013 and even memorize \u2013 these words: \u201cI have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous abandoned or his children begging for bread\u201d (Psa. 37:25). God really does take care of His own. Always.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    If you were writing a new believer\u2019s guide, what lessons would you include?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Chuck Lawless currently serves as Professor of Evangelism and Missions and Dean of Graduate Studies at Southeastern Seminary.<\/em><\/p>\n

    You can connect with Dr. Lawless on both Twitter<\/a> and Facebook<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Chuck Lawless It\u2019s been a long time since I became a Christ follower (39+ years ago), but I still think about what I wish I had known back then. You see, my first years as a believer were not easy. My family was not a Christian family. I was in my early teens, wanting…","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":751213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n9 Lessons for New Christians . . . 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