Road Rules for Life

Some years ago, near my home in Montreat, North Carolina, the road between Black Mountain and Asheville was being widened from two lanes to four lanes. For several weeks during the construction period there were no lane markers. One night there was a tragic head-on collision, and five people were killed--because the "road rules" had not been clearly marked.

The Bible teaches that the Christian life is one of constant growth, and there are "rules" that we need to follow so that we can grow spiritually. When we are born again, we are born into God's family. It is God's purpose that we grow into full stature and become mature in Christ. It would be against the Law of God if we were to remain spiritual babies. The Bible says that we are to "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." This implies steady development, constant enlargement, increasing wisdom. We need to follow certain guidelines to ensure good spiritual health.

Read the Bible Daily
Reading the Bible is one of our greatest privileges. Our spiritual lives need food. Where do we find this spiritual food? In the Bible, the Word of God. The Bible reveals Jesus Christ, who is the Bread of Life for our hungry souls, and the Water of Life for our thirsty hearts. If we fail to partake of daily spiritual nourishment, we will starve and lose our spiritual vitality.

The Bible says, "Desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may growthereby." Read it, study it, meditate on it, memorize it. Most of the difficulties that we experience as Christians can be traced to a lack of Bible reading and Bible study.

We should not be content to skim through a chapter merely to satisfy our consciences. We need to hide the Word of God in our hearts. A short portion well-digested is of greater spiritual value to our souls than a lengthy portion scanned hurriedly.

The very practice of reading the Bible will have a purifying effect on our minds and our hearts. Let nothing take the place of this daily exercise.

Learn to Pray
Our prayers may falter at first. We may feel awkward and inarticulate. But the Holy Spirit who lives within us will help us and teach us.

Prayer is communicating. A baby's first response is to his parents. What a thrill that response brings to the entire family! In the same way, imagine the joy that our first response to God brings to him.

Our petitions should always be conditioned by "Thy will be done." The Bible says, "Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." But delighting ourselves in him precedes the fulfillment of our desires. Delighting ourselves in him will direct our desires, so that God can answer our petitions.

Try to have a systematic method of prayer. Prayer combined with Bible study leads to a healthy Christian life. The Bible says, "Pray without ceasing." If we set aside special prayer periods during the day, our unconscious life will be saturated with prayer between the prayer periods.

The devil will fight us every step of the way. There will be many interruptions, but we need to keep at it and not become discouraged. Soon we will find that these periods of prayer are the greatest delight of our lives.

Rely on the Holy Spirit
Jesus Christ dwells in us through the Holy Spirit. We need to ask him to take over in our lives; to tell him how weak, helpless, unstable and unreliable we are. Then we stand aside and let him take over in all tthe choices and decisions of our lives. The Holy Spirit prays for us; what a comfort that should be to the weakest of us.

We need to let go of all our inner tensions and complexes and rely completely on him. A truly victorious Christian is one who in spite of worries, inner conflicts and tensions is confident that God is in control.

Attend Church Regularly
Scripture tells us not to forsake "the assembling of ourselves together." Christians need the fellowship of fellow believers.

The visible Church is Christ's organization on Earth. It is a place where we gather to worship God, to learn from his Word and to fellowship with other Christians. The Bible calls the Church a "holy nation," "God's own people," "the household of God," a "holy temple in the Lord," "the body of Christ." These are figures of speech, symbols and pictures used to indicate the spiritual reality of the Church.

We attend church to worship God and to serve him. In the Church we find our place of service. We are saved to serve. The happy Christian is a serving Christian.

Witness to Christ
If we faithfully read the Bible, pray, rely on the Holy Spirit and attend church, witnessing will take care of itself--just as a cup that is continually being filled is bound to overflow.

We Christians are commissioned ambassadors of the King of kings. We are to let our flag fly high over our embassy. We witness in two ways: by life and by word--the two should go hand in hand. God's purpose for us after we have been converted is that we witness to his saving grace and power.

Jesus said, "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven." In Acts 28:23, the Apostle Paul, held in bonds in Rome, persuaded people, from morning to evening, concerning Jesus.

Every day it should be said of us, "Behold, a sower went forth to sow." Paul exhorted the Christians centuries ago to teach only the Word. We are sowing the seed of the Word. Some seeds indeed may fall on beaten paths and some among thorns, but we need to keep on sowing. We are not to stop sowing because some of the soil looks unpromising.

We are holding a light. We are to let it shine! Though it may seem but a twinkling candle in a world of darkness, it is our business to let it shine. We are kindling a fire. In this cold world full of hatred and selfishness our little blaze may seem to be unavailing, but we need to keep our fire burning.

We have bread for a hungry world. People may seem to be so busy feeding on other things that they will not accept the Bread of Life, but we need to keep on giving it, offering it to people.

We have water for a thirsty people. We need to keep crying out, "Every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters."(15) Sometimes they can't come, and we need to carry the water to them.

Love As We Are Loved
We need to be ruled by love. Jesus said to those who followed him, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." The Apostle John wrote, "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

Love does not necessarily imply approval of the one loved. If God had waited until he could approve of us before he sent his Son to redeem us, where would we be?

Of all the gifts that God offers his children, love is the greatest. Of all the fruits of the Holy Spirit, love is the first.

The Bible declares that we who follow Christ should love one another as God loved us when he sent his Son to die on the cross. The Bible says that the moment we come to Christ, he gives us supernatural love, and that his love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The greatest demonstration that we are Christians is our love for one another.

Obey Christ
We need to let Christ have first place in all the choices of our lives, to make him Lord and Master.

Learn How to Meet Temptation
the work of the devil. Recognize it as such. One way to meet temptation is to quote a verse of Scripture at the tempter--he will always run, for he cannot stand against the Word of God.

When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, he had the Word of God for a resource. Three times Jesus said, "It is written." Say to the devil, "Thus saith the Lord," and the devil will flee.

God would rather have your obedience than anything else. To be obedient, we need to know his Commands. That is another reason to read and to study the Bible. The Bible is our Compass and our Rule Book. Obey what God tells you.

Be Wholesome
Certainly the Bible teaches separation from sin, but the Bible says nowhere that we are to be odd. We are to be radiant. We should be chivalrous, courteous, clean of body, pure of mind, poised and gracious. We need to avoid silly flirtations, gossip, shady conversations and suggestive amusements. We should be neat in appearance and dress with good taste. We should avoid extremes. Our lives and our appearance should commend the Gospel and make it attractive to others.

Live Above Our Circumstances
God made us as we are! He placed us where we are! So we can best serveand glorify him just as we are, where we are. Some of us spend so muchtime wishing that things were different, and thinking up alibis for why things aren't different, that we overlook all of the advantages and the opportunities open to us right where we are.

Paul wrote, "None of these things move me." He had learned how to be abased and how to abound. He had learned to be every inch a Christian even in prison. Don't let circumstances get you down. Learn to live graciously within them, realizing that the Lord Jesus himself is with you.

These principles and suggestions may seem simple--but keep them; they work. I have seen them tested in the lives of thousands, and I have tested them in my own life. Properly and faithfully kept, these principles will give us peace of soul, happiness, peace of mind and pleasure, and we will have learned the secret of living life with satisfaction.

extract from Growing Strong in the Seasons Of Life by Charles R. SwinDoll