How Do I Live As A Christian In This World: 10 Areas We Might Not Normally Think About

The desire of my heart is to live as a true Christian, in a world that is broken. How do I do that? How do I live it out during my daily life? Let's look briefly at ten areas of our lives that we might not have thought about before.

Group Dynamics / Social Climbing - In our friend group, in the group that surrounds us at work, we may be tempted to try to climb, to try to jockey for position. That's the way of the world. Show how important you are. Quietly wage a war against someone who is a threat to you. Talk about her behind her back, gather people against her. Use carefully worded remarks, offhand, to slowly pick at your rival in the group. These are the ways of the world. They are not the way of Christians. So you should do the opposite of these things you see others doing.

If someone targets you for a campaign of quiet warfare, refuse to engage, simply keep being your best. Pray for them. If someone gets a promotion before you, don't get angry, just keep being a man or woman of integrity. If you see a weak spot and know you could use it against that person to drive them down and yourself up in the group, refuse to use it. See it, and refuse to use that. That is revolutionary. You will feel better about yourself, and in the long term, maybe not the short, but in the long term others will respect you more for your lifestyle.

I used to downright hate the social climbing and alpha male stuff in groups, and by disengaging with it, and simply being myself and my best in Christ, God would often work it out in a unique way.

Extra Tip: Stubbornly treat those who consider you an enemy with kindness and respect, it will confuse them.

The Slippery Slope of Flirtation - This isn't just for married couples, but also for singles. Singles, hear me on this, you will have many flirtations that are a danger to your future. Before the right godly woman or man comes along, you may run into 15-20 of the wrong ones. Don't let your emotions control you in romance. Even if they're very beautiful/handsome, keep your guard up. Look deeper, to their character, and their faith walk. God will give you flags to watch for.

Married couples, avoid at all costs the slippery slope of flirtation. I think we often act as if, well, I don't even realize what I'm doing. But if we're really being honest, we do. We may slip into it naturally. But we are humans made in God's image, so we are capable in Christ, of catching ourselves and refraining from the flirtations we might otherwise indulge in. It's life and death we toy with, with flirting. A few words, a few choice remarks, and destruction is near.

We all know the story. A married woman has a man who begins flirting with her at work. She resists it at first. But slowly she begins to play into it. And as she begins to flirt back, the ball is now rolling downhill. We all know, it can roll very fast and pick up speed very quickly. This is why many will be in a happy marriage, but they like how the flirtation makes them feel. So they allow it. Just a bit. And slowly that door cracks open wider and wider.

And pretty soon they are in divorce court, and wondering, how could I have let this happen?

Be very staunch. Shut down the flirtation immediately. Or just walk away. And don't allow it.

I had a friend whose wife had a coworker, another woman mind you, who kept flirting with her. My friend didn't like it, but she kept telling him they were best friends. Big mistake. That should not be a friendship you're in. At the same time my friend and his wife were having some problems in their marriage.

This friend of his wife kept whispering in her ear, "I'd never treat you that way. I understand you." And pretty soon she wore her down, and she left her husband for this woman.

If you can keep the door closed on any flirtation, you can protect your marriage. If you allow the door to crack open, it can open very wide, very fast, and end in disaster. Head it off immediately, don't toy with it, even though the attention feels good in the moment, be wise, shut and lock that deadly door.

Extra Tip: Avoid intense eye contact, it's a form of flirtation that's powerful but hard to pin down (easy to make excuses about).

Financial Stability - Something that I faced when I became a Christian was financial chaos. I had taken out too many loans. I had many bills in collections. I owed people money that I had never payed back. I had stolen money from people I needed to make amends to. So I got to work. I used free services like Credit Karma to find out about the bills in collections. I began making monthly payments on them, small amounts, $25 here and $100 when I could. I made a plan. I paid people back, with interest. I made amends to those I'd harmed financially.