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So this morning I was asked to give a talk at the college fellowship group’s lock-in. Their theme was living as a one-faced Christian. In coming up with the talk, I thought it’d be fun to come up with another one of my 7 step lists. So this was basically what I talked about this morning.

1. Start with Repentance - In order to even begin living as a Christian, we have to repent of the sins that we’re holding on to. As Romans 3:23 says, we’re all sinners. To even try to live as a one-faced Christian, we have to let go and want to be able to live as a Christian. So begin by repenting of any sin that you have in your life.

2. Know the Word, be in the Word! - Once we’ve repented of our sin, we need to find out what God wants for us to do with our lives. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says that “All Scripture is God-breathed…” so all the instruction we need is right out of the Bible. The Bible is also considered the only weapon that God lists when the armor of God is described, so we need to be prepared and know what the Bible says.

3. Talk (Pray) with God! - When we live as Christians, God tells us that we will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12). So to handle the trials of this world, we need to be going to God in prayer. However, not just prayer about what we want, but prayer about what God wants for us. Philippians 4:6 tells us to go to God with everything, so we need to do just that.

4. Have Faith, Trust God! - If we’re reading the Bible, then we need to trust God that what he says in the Bible will happen. We need to trust that God is watching out for us, and have faith that nothing is too much for us to handle with God in our lives. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says that God is faithful to us, and will not tempt us with more than we can handle.

5. Be around other Christians - It’s not easy going it alone in this world, let alone trying to live as a Christian without the help of others. That’s why we need to be around other Christians. Acts 2:42-47 describes the fellowship of the early believers and how they cared for each other, spent time with each other, and worshipped God together. In the same way, we need the help of other believers to keep us on the right path, walking with God.

6. Love God and be filled with the Spirit - In the end, it comes down to whether we love God or not. In this world, if we love someone, we’ll do all that we can for that person to care for them, protect them, and watch over them. In the same way, if we love God, we will do all that we can for God by obeying his commands. Also, when we love and obey God, He will provide us with the Holy Spirit to guide us and watch over us, aiding in our walk with God. (John 14:15-17)

7. Love others, serve others - The two greatest commands were to Love God, and then to Love our neighbors (Matthew 22:36-40). So after we love God, to continue to keep his commands we need to also love our others. This isn’t just limited to other Christians, but also to non-Christians as well. In the end, I believe this is one of the best ways to witness to people by how we are set apart by God and called to love our neighbors as ourselves.

In my opinion, these steps all go somewhat in order. While following these is definitely not easy, and while this post is somewhat pretty straight forward, if we as believers live our lives in the end by loving God first, and loving others second, then I think that we should all be able to avoid living as a two-faced Christian and instead live as a so called one-faced Christian.