What Kind of Christian am I?

Jesus,

I am a sinful man. I come to you each day and I ask for your forgiveness. Sometimes this makes me feel like I am worthless, because it seems as though I make no progress. I know you love me. I know you were the only way teach you happiness and to get into heaven. I ask for your patience once more and to bestow on me the grace I need to overcome temptations in this day. I ask this not just for myself, but so that I may also be an example to others on how to live, and how beautiful you are. May all that I do be for your glory.

In Jesus Christ name I pray,

Amen

Titus 1:1-9

Paul, a slave of God and Apostle of Jesus Christ

for the sake of the faith of God's chosen ones and the recognition of religious truth, in the hope of eternal life that God, who does not lie, promised before time began, who indeed at the proper time revealed his word in the proclamation with which I was entrusted by the command of God our savior, to Titus, my true child in our common faith: grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our savior. For this reason I left you in Crete so that you might set right what remains to be done and appoint presbyters in every town, as I directed you, on condition that a man be blameless, married only once, with believing children who are not accused of licentiousness or rebellious. For a bishop as God's steward must be blameless, not arrogant, not irritable, not a drunkard, not aggressive, not greedy for sordid gain, but hospitable, a lover of goodness, temperate, just, holy, and self-controlled, holding fast to the true message as taught so that he will be able both to exhort with sound doctrine and to refute opponents.

You know I read these lines from Titus and I'm greatly humbled. I'll be honest, most days I think I'm doing pretty good. Then I read these lines and it makes me look deep and early. I ask myself," am I truly a godly man? Am I a good example of a Christian?" Sure it would be easy to compare myself to others. I can look to this person or that person think, "I will I don't swear that much, alright don't leer at women like that, alright give me more in that person over there to charity." But deep down I know that comparing myself to others is not what I should be doing. My goal in life is to not just be better than the next man or woman. My goal in life is to become the same God made me to be. The person I should compare myself to is Jesus Christ. I know there many out there it would say that I'm being too hard on myself. That to compare myself to Christ will lead only to frustration. But here is something that I have learned, when I was younger and involved in sports I realize that I could not become a better player by just comparing myself as an athlete to others on my team. I realized that if I really wanted to be the best I could be I needed to set the bar higher and I would watch videos or film of professional athletes and how they performed. Likewise as a Christian I look to Jesus Christ because he is gold standard. Will I ever be perfect? No, not on this earth, but that's not the point. The point is that I want to be the best Christian that I can possibly be because then I am loving the best I possibly can and in through that love not only will I find happiness unmatched on this earth, but by taking Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and in the water and Holy Spirit I will enjoy happiness in the afterlife for eternity.

Luke 17:1-6

Jesus said to his disciples, "Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the one through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, 'I am sorry,' you should forgive him." And the Apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith." The Lord replied, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."

Now while the first reading from Titus makes me pause and gives me great concern for just reasons, this reading from Luke inspires me. It lets me know that Jesus understands. Jesus knows that I will be tempted multiple times a day daily. He knows that I am weak and flawed and asked that I only come and ask for forgiveness when I make mistakes. You have to admit that's a rather humbling thing to do, asking for forgiveness. I am also inspired because in these lines Jesus tells me that great things are possible. Great things are possible and I only need the faith of a mustard seed. I don't need to be the greatest, I don't need to be the strongest and I don't need to worry about being the wisest. I merely need to be myself, simple humble man with my heart open to Christ's love and grace. In these lines holds a lesson that I share with my children weekly, "The number one thing that holds you back from greatness is yourself." If I would only let go and let God I could experience so much more. And that is why I am not done and why I choose carry on and go deeper in my faith, for I have not reached the finish line but in a sense the race has just begun.

And that's all I got to say about that.