How's the best way to follow Christ?

[Nyoka]

What are the commandments of Christ?
How do we keep them?

I to had a point in time when I was seeking the same answers and the following is what I found. When I was searching for how to follow Jesus God showed me that I first had to know what a "Christian" was. He took me to the bible to see what it meant. We see in Acts 26:28 the first mention of people being called "Christians": And Agrippa said to Paul, Do you persuade me to be a Christian in but a little? According to Strong's "christian" means: Christianos khris-tee-an-os' From G5547; a Christian, that is, follower of Christ: - Christian. So to be a Christian we must follow Christ.

Next I wanted to know how to follow Christ so God took me to What Jesus Himself said about it in John: Joh 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. Joh 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Joh 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Joh

14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

These verses show us that Christ equates following Him with keeping His commandments and words. Jesus then equates us keeping His commandments with Him keeping the Father's commandments and the way to abide in love: Joh 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. This verse shows us what the two great commandments shows us: Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment. Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. All three verses show us God works through love mercy and justice and therefore so must we.

If we obey even just these verses alone then we will want to present God's plan of salvation to others, we will want to disciple others, we will want to do God's will, we will want to spend time with other believers and we will want to ease the suffering and burdens others bear - thereby fulfilling the great commission Jesus gave us just before He returned to Heaven and we will fulfill the love God wants us to show to others. ;D

 

[Miss Hepburn]

Excellent, Nyoka.
Miss Hepburn

 

[Surf Rider]

(Mat 22:37) Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.

 

[Miss Hepburn]

(Mat 22:37) Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.

I can't hear that enough.
Miss Hepburn

 

[Benoni]

Sorry I have not looked at this thread lately. I love how God allows us to grow and mature and then turns around and uses us for HIS GLORY. My 31 year old son who has MS is moving home next month.

I have my forty-one niece living with me at the present who is a recovering drug addict and has pretty much ruined here life but has an awesome heart for Jesus and really loves the Lord and is doing awesome. She is a babe spiritually speaking but my sister who is a spirit filled church believer who also really loves the lord has emotionally and spiritually attacked my niece as well as her brother their whole lives. I did not know how bad it was until a visit this last summer to there home where this got so out of control in my presence.
I immediately told my niece she was coming home with me and my wife and she has lived with us since this summer and has been nothing but a blessing
Back to my sister. I had to make some visits to my sister’s house to get details worked out to get my niece coming to my home. But the anger and attacked from my sister continued and Christian husband are so un-Christ like where it really matters.
On the surface my sister is a saint, and appears to be the perfect believer but deep down it is her carnal nature ruling not the peace of Jesus. Reminds me of the Jews during Jesus day who prayed in the streets to become notice by others for there loud public prayers. My sister cannot turn the other cheek, for this reason she has limited her spiritual growth and is not in the will of God for her anger is her god.

What a story -families... don't ya love 'em. So sorry about your sis and her husband not being Christ-like -what a shame. So wonderful you are there for your niece.
Don't know what Dp means, btw.

 

[Surf Rider]

Sorry I have not looked at this thread lately. I love how God allows us to grow and mature and then turns around and uses us for HIS GLORY. My 31 year old son who has MS is moving home next month.

I have my forty-one niece living with me at the present who is a recovering drug addict and has pretty much ruined here life but has an awesome heart for Jesus and really loves the Lord and is doing awesome. She is a babe spiritually speaking but my sister who is a spirit filled church believer who also really loves the lord has emotionally and spiritually attacked my niece as well as her brother their whole lives. I did not know how bad it was until a visit this last summer to there home where this got so out of control in my presence.
I immediately told my niece she was coming home with me and my wife and she has lived with us since this summer and has been nothing but a blessing
Back to my sister. I had to make some visits to my sister’s house to get details worked out to get my niece coming to my home. But the anger and attacked from my sister continued and Christian husband are so un-Christ like where it really matters.
On the surface my sister is a saint, and appears to be the perfect believer but deep down it is her carnal nature ruling not the peace of Jesus. Reminds me of the Jews during Jesus day who prayed in the streets to become notice by others for there loud public prayers. My sister cannot turn the other cheek, for this reason she has limited her spiritual growth and is not in the will of God for her anger is her god.

What a story -families... don't ya love 'em. So sorry about your sis and her husband not being Christ-like -what a shame. So wonderful you are there for your niece.
Don't know what Dp means, btw.

We currently have a 400 lb lady staying in our cabin. She just got out of jail. She has recently kicked the drug habit. She is 6-1/2 months pregnant. She is exceedingly, totally lazy. She is idiotic. She goes into trances. We serve her for Christ, to be used by Him to bring her to repentance and remission of sins through Christ. We have a Downs son. We'll probably never have an empty nest. Cool.