10 Things Every Christian Should be Doing
"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." James 1:22
Faith is not something that exists solely in our heads. Our actions are the externalization of our faith. They show others what we believe and set an example as to how Christians should act. And while there is no set of actions we must take; we must act because faith without works is dead. Yet, many times Christians struggle to know where to look to start, improve, or grow in their faith. The following actions are a good starting point for building a strong foundation of our faith.
1) Go to Church Every Sunday
This may seem obvious, but many people fall short. I am not talking about going most Sundays or even almost every Sunday; we must go every Sunday. Seemingly more urgent tasks cannot take precedent, and there cannot be any excuses. Attending church shows that you have skin in the game and care enough about your faith to show up with others to worship, even when you don’t feel like it some weeks. In fact, going to church every Sunday is really the bare minimum when it comes to living out our faith.
2) Pray Every Day
Most Christians would probably say that they pray every day, but while a prayer before dinner or when you wake up in the morning is good, that is not what I am talking about here. True prayer should be much longer than 30 seconds. Start by trying to pray for five minutes straight and build from there. Prayer is our ability to communicate with God. It allows us to develop our relationship with him. To properly grow that relationship, we must talk to God a lot. If you don’t know where to start, open your Bible up to the book of Psalms and start praying the Psalms. It’s amazing what spending substantial time praying will do for your faith.
3) Fast
Immediately after Jesus was baptized, he went to the desert and fasted for 40 days. In the days of the early church, fasting was practiced to discipline the mind and body against sin. In a time where food was not nearly as abundant as it is today, Christians fasted from everything except water. Today, fasting is not nearly as common or extreme, but it still provides the same benefits when practiced. While most Protestant church don’t formally prescribe fasting, the Catholic and Orthodox churches prescribe fasting at certain times throughout the year. Start by trying to abstain from meat on Wednesdays and Fridays and see how disciplined you are. At first, you’ll find it easier to control what you put into your mouth than what comes out of your mouth, but by working on one, you improve the other.
4) Tithe at least 10%
Like praying, tithing is one of the more adhered to practices of Christianity. However, tithing calls for us to give 10% of our income to the church, not 5% or 8%. This not only ensures an equal standard, but it should hurt some. Giving money to the church should be something that hurts a little because it shows that you are doing something meaningful and puts some limits on our ability to buy material things. While 10% is what is asked, there is nothing stopping us from giving more.
5) Serve Early and Often
Perhaps the easiest way to grow your faith is to serve others. Serving not only allows us to get involved in the church and meet people, but, if done right, results in gratitude and humility. Giving of your time puts others before yourself. Christ spent many hours serving those that needed him. He served by teaching, performing miracles, and feeding the hungry. Likewise, we are called to do the same. Service is something that should be done regularly, and it must be done with the right mindset.
6) Read the Bible Every Day
Out of all the things on this list, reading the Bible is likely the hardest one to do on a consistent basis. In the 21st century, we constantly need to be entertained, but the Bible does not care about entertaining you. The Bible is there to educate and document, not amuse and distract. Simply reading the Bible for five minutes a day isn’t enough. Start by reading the Bible for half as much time that your watch TV every day. Does that seem impossible? Don’t watch as much TV and spend more time doing other things to benefit your faith and your family.
7) Go to Confession/Ask for Forgiveness
Back in the early days of the church, confessions were a public spectacle where parishioners would confess their sins publicly to the congregation. The idea was to deter people from sinning, knowing that their indiscretions would be on display. For obvious reasons, this is no longer practiced today, but confession is something that is still very much part of the Orthodox and Catholic churches, and seeking forgiveness is universal in Christianity. If we are not asking others for forgiveness or formally confessing our sins, we are not giving ourselves the opportunity to break away from our vices and grow closer to Christ. We should go to confession whenever we have sin weighing on our hearts and ask for forgiveness whenever we wrong someone.
8) Receive Communion Regularly
Communion draws directly from the life of Christ when He broke bread and wine with his disciples and said “take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you for the remission of sins” and “take, drink, this is my blood of the new covenant.” While most Protestant churches see communion as a symbolic exercise, the Catholic and Orthodox churches view communion as a sacrament, with the wine and bread turning into the actual body and blood of Christ. Receiving communion with our brothers and sisters in Christ, whether symbolic or not, strengthens the bond of the church and is a visible gesture of our commitment to God.
9) Learn the History of the Church
To truly appreciate Christianity and all that it provides for us in 2024, we must learn the history of the church. This is in addition to the Bible. From the time that the last book of the Bible was written to today, there is almost 2,000 years of church history. Everything that we have today, from the different denominations, to sacraments, to the Bible, is a part of that history. It is incumbent upon us to learn the history to appreciate the sacrifice of those that came before us while ensuring the continuation of the church for centuries to come.
10) Evangelize
Lastly, evangelism is a critical part of being a Christian. Key biblical figures like John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, and Andrew evangelized, often at risk to their own lives. In America, we really do not have to worry about being physically persecuted for our faith. However, we cannot let the lack of urgency or state of complacency allow us to forget to spread the Good News altogether. We must tell the story of Christ, ideally through our actions, and use words when necessary.