Practice Makes ... Well, You Know ... (Colossians 2:6-7)

Today's scripture: Colossians 2:6-7

So many people call themselves Christians because they were born in the United States, or their family background is Christianity. Others say, since they're not anything else (Muslim, Buddhist, Hindi, Jewish), they must be Christian. And tragically, much has been done by so-called Christians that has been detrimental to the truth.

Being a Christian—a true follower of Christ—is so much more than a name. Being a Christ-follower means one has "received Christ Jesus the Lord ..." She has accepted the gift of salvation the death, burial, and resurrection of Him. Most of all, it means she walks with Jesus every day. She focuses on becoming more and more "firmly rooted ... built up in Him and established in [her] faith ..."

To be firmly rooted and built up and established requires a few things:

We must know truth—God's truth—through daily study and meditation on His word. We must read the Bible and prayerfully seek God's will as we do so.

We must pray. Praising Him. Thanking Him. Interceding for others. Listening to His voice. As the apostle Paul wrote, we should, "... pray without ceasing ..." (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

We must worship with others. The writer of Hebrews reminds us to “not forsake … assembling together” (10:25). Something really, really special happens when we're surrounded by others who share our faith in the one true God.

We must practice Christ-likeness. To do this, we need to study His character. How did He interact with others? How did He interact with His Father? What was more important to Him than anything else? How did He react to temptation? When we study the character of Christ, we learn how to love others, how to show mercy and grace, how to counteract the enemy's lies.

We must demonstrate the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, gentleness, self-control and all the rest (Galatians 5:22-23).

If we practice these things, we become were to practice these things, the world would see something very attractive, very compelling in us. And perhaps we might be the light the brings someone to Jesus.