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Like many Christians, going to church was solely a weekend event in my life. During the week, I was free to live however I pleased, then on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings I would attend Christian meetings for a few hours, then return to my own schedule. As long as I continued attending these meetings and stayed out of trouble during the week, I felt that I was more than fulfilling my role as a Christian. When I left home to attend college, an older believer cautioned me that I was at a crossroad in my life, and that if I wanted to go on in the Lord, I would have to actively choose Christ to be my life. That although the Lord gave us a free will to choose Him, Satan was not so courteous, and would impose his lies on me to lure me away from my Christian walk. But having lived my life as a passive Christian, not actively seeking Christ, yet remaining a “good Christian”, I felt capable of withstanding the temptations of the world, and ignored this warning. I moved out of state and within months, found my identity and Christian living reduced to a box checked on a demographics survey. One day, after attending a Sunday service for the first time in months, a friend who had noticed my absence inquired of my whereabouts. When I replied that I had gone to a church meeting, he laughed in disbelief! Not only did he not believe that I had attended a Christian meeting, but because my lifestyle had become so degraded, he laughed at the thought that I was even a Christian! I was slightly offended by this reaction, but I thank God for His mercy in showing me my condition.
I realized that being a Christian in belief was not enough, and that I must make the choice to take Christ as my life in my daily living. Without actively taking a stand to choose Christ, God will not force us to follow Him, while the enemy will use every subtle tactic to cause us to fall away from God and lead us down the road of destruction.
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