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Taking baby steps in your Christian walk
Baby Christians aren’t the only ones who need to take those baby steps. Does every possible trial come our way right after we’re saved? While it is true that Satan gathers reinforcements and throws everything he’s got at you when you become a new Christian in order to win you back, he’s not done messing with you by a long shot. Throughout your life, trials come and go. We all know this, but some of us forget to resort back to the baby steps we had to take when we were new in the faith. Trials can include things such as learning to trust in God. This continues to be a challenge for me each time a crisis happens in my life, big or small.
I’m going to offer up some examples of obstacles and how taking baby steps can help us over come them.
Financial: I believe everyone has been impacted by the economy to some point. Tight budgets affects our ability to be faithful in paying tithes. Tithing is a touchy and often controversial subject among believers. It shouldn’t be, but when you can’t even afford to pay your bills, giving to the church falls by the wayside. It takes an incredible amount of faith to give what you don’t have. So, what to do? Take baby steps. Tithing is giving ten percent of your first fruits back to God. If your paycheck is $1500, then the tithe is $150 - a huge chunk of change when your bank account only has twenty bucks in it. Must we give ten percent? Is there a law that says we absolutely have to? Will God inflict us with some terrible disease if we don’t? God is merciful. He wants us to take baby steps in order to build our faith. So, instead of paying ten percent, try one percent. In this example, this comes to $15.00. We can trust God with that much, can’t we? After we find that $15.00 didn’t break the bank, next time we pay $20.00. Wow, somehow we ended up with an extra fifty dollars at the end of the month. Where did that come from? God! He is blessing our faithfulness and increased it at the same time. Now that our faith is stronger, we’re upping our tithe to $50.00. Keep this up, and we’ll meet our goal of ten percent in no time. We took baby steps and God blessed us.
Listening to God: God’s still, small voice is difficult to decipher among our feelings and emotions. I drive a ’93 GMC Jimmy. My husband would love for me to get a new car, and to be honest, so would I. However, the thought of making car payments and paying hundreds of dollars to the DMV every year doesn’t appeal to me. So, here we are hypothetically driving by a car dealership and seeing all those new SUVs glistening in the sun. Hey, they’re having a sale, let’s go check it out. The car of my dreams just caught my eye and I see there’s zero percent financing and manufacturer rebates to boot. I suddenly agree with my husband: I need a new car. But Lord, do YOU want me to have a new car? I wait and listen for His still, small voice. I hear YES, YES, YES! Wait, is that really God talking, or is it me? This is when I need to stop and ask a few questions. Is having this car a necessity? Is going into debt in order to buy this car Biblical? Are we required to make a hasty decision TODAY in order to buy this vehicle at the sale price at zero percent financing? Beware of any offer that prevents you from going home and praying about it! At this point I am confused about whose voice I am really hearing – a sure queue to get out of there NOW.
How can I learn to recognize God’s voice from my own? Baby steps. It can start with something very simple like passing someone you know who is walking along side the road. She may be going for a leisurely walk, or her car could’ve have broken down. You don’t know. Do you stop? You’re on your way to pick up your daughter from school and already running a few minutes late. Hmmm. What’s the worse thing that can happen if you pick this gal up? Would your decision to stop and help her be Biblical? Would it please God? Would it make her day? You pull over, roll down your window, and offer her a lift. Turns out that her car won’t start and she is on her way to work, which happens to be on the way to school. Your daughter is safe where she’s at, so no worries there. Was giving this woman a ride worth it? Yes, the look of joy on her face and expressions of gratitude are priceless. You heeded the Holy Spirit and obeyed. Your faith is boosted and you’re more familiar with the sound of His still, small voice. Next time you’ll know what to listen for.
Baby steps are what you take when you tackle things like loosing weight. You don’t focus on the thirty pounds you want to loose over the long haul; you focus on the ten pounds to loose in a month. If that is hard to do, then focus on the two pounds in a week’s time. After the first few pounds come off, your motivation increases and so does your faith.
How about organizing your office or craft room? The task is overwhelming, but not if you commit to working on it for just fifteen minutes a day. After a few days of diligently working those 15 minutes, you start to see progress. Your motivation increases, you no longer feel so overwhelmed, and your faith got stronger. Hmmm, let’s do twenty minutes tomorrow and this weekend we’ll commit half a day to the task. Wow, this is fun!
What mountain are you facing? Are you focused on the summit, or asking God to help you to that first ledge? Take baby steps and allow God to build your faith every time He picks up your foot and you place it down. By the time you reach the ledge, the summit is closer and more attainable.
Philippians 3:13-15 (New International Version)
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.
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