In the Same Way You Received Him...

"As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him..." Colossians 2:6

When I became a Christian around the age of 16, I listened to ALOT of Christian music. Passion, Hillsong, Paul Baloche, Clay Cross, Steven Curtis, you name it - I owned it. This was my milk: 3 ounces of Michael W. Smith, 3 ounces Caedmon's Call...full (can you tell I'm a new dad?). This is how I got my spiritual nourishment. Sure, I made attempts to read the Bible, but I didn't understand theology yet. Couldn't have told you what God's sovereignty was or how one sacrifice for sins was enough. Dare I say, I didn't need it just yet. The music I was listening to was enough.

I know some people might scoff at this and say, "If you can't communicate the gospel, then how could you be born again?" Sorry to disappoint, but I don't see it that way. As a matter of fact, I was more alive, more in awe, and more in love with God at that point in my life than ever before. Everything was new, everything was amazing. Even my poor attempts at reading the Bible left my heart overflowing. I look at my month-old baby girl now and think, "Does she know who her parents are? Could she communicate that we'll never leave or forsake her? Does she know that she belongs to us?" Of course not. I think God operates that way when we first become believers. He gives us life by the Spirit, and treats us like newborns for a time. He doesn't expect us to be able to communicate the meaning of life at that stage. We grasp it over time. But one thing we do know...we have new life and we're out of the womb.

I'm not downplaying the study of the Word. Let me be the first to say that Jesus is clear about our need for it (John 15:5). What I'm talking about is continuing to walk in the Lord Jesus in the same way you received Him. I need to keep listening to some of those songs I used to hear when I was a spiritual newborn. Not so I can backslide or get lazy, but so it can aid my current walk. Maybe some of you out there get a charge from reading and have to work harder at implementing the creative side of things like singing hymns or spiritual songs. Me? Listening to hymns and spiritual songs makes me want to read the Bible, so the more I implement those into my personal time with God, the sweeter the Words on the page sound.

I hope that each of you might remember what stirred up your affections for Jesus when you first believed, and that you might continue to implement it into your lives.