‘I’d become a Christian a few years ago, but looking back, I never really settled into it. I’d been led to believe that following Jesus would be a bed of roses, so it was a shock when I lost my job and started to struggle with reading the Bible.’
Julia’s story is typical of many who come into Christian things through certain evangelistic courses or events. Although they warm to the gospel of forgiveness, and the experience of a relationship with Christ, the practicalities of Christian living and the cost of following Jesus are often not made clear. Hardly surprising, then, that there is a growing fringe of believers that are not making progress in their Christian lives.
Writing to the Colossians, Paul urges them: ‘Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness’ (Colossians 2.6-7).
