Acts 17:23, New International Version

“For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.”

As a Christian, I call myself a Christ follower. Many who know me would say I am not a tradition Christian. Maybe this is because I did not grow up in a Christian country or home. God gave me a path to know Him very personally, and I am not familiar with the man-made religious traditions. I opened the Bible and the Holy Spirit taught me from the very first day and He continues now. I taste every word that is written in it, and I feel the heart of my Lord who is breathing in it with His deep and unfailing love. I take every word sincerely, and I take Him into my heart and my being.

One thing I committed to is that I will never stop saying what He has me to say and do what He has me to do. As Paul said to the people in Athens, I make it my usual conversation, “…and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.” This is what I plan to do my entire life until the last breath of my life, as well as the will of God and the mission Jesus instructed us to do, to never stop spreading the good news that Jesus died and rose again.

Once we become Christian, what do we require of ourselves? Join a youth group if you are young, take our little ones to the Sunday school class if we are parents, and go to church every Sunday? I love all of these, and I participate in them as well. However, are these in accordance with what Jesus commanded? Doesn’t His message begin with, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near”? (Matthew 4:17) How about His mission - Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you? (Matthew 28:19-20) What about the guidance that Paul gave to his fellow brothers and sisters, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2, NIV) He declared, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”. He fully submitted himself to the Word which called him to deny his own self and pick up the cross and follow. (Galatians 2:20, NIV)

Is it too much to ask? A sacrificial life for Christ! Maybe yes, maybe not. It depends how much you know the glories of God. Not know about or heard of but know within your whole being that He truly is Who He said He is!

My knees and my pride both bow to the One who is all knowing, who made the world and everything in it. The One Who is omnipresent, who is the Lord of heaven and earth, and does not live in temples built by human hands. The One Who is all knowing, who is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything. The One Who ordains all things and sustains all things, who gives everyone life and breath and everything else. (Acts 17:24-25) What is the privilege I can possibly have!?

May we all go the extra mile in our journey as a follower of Christ!