I recently found a great book to serve as an introduction to the Christian life. It is entitled Rock Solid, and I wrote a review of it here. It is largely a theological introduction to the Christian life but it does not neglect how these doctrines affect us on a daily basis. Recently, I've struggled to know what book to give to a new believer who has, perhaps, not been exposed to the basics of Christian living and is wondering what to do and how to live. Rock Solid is the best thing I've found, thus far. But if you have other suggestions, I would certainly welcome them.
Over the course of the next few months, I'd like to write a series of articles that cover how one should begin the Christian life. The following order makes sense to me, and I plan to flesh each one out in the monthly newsletter of Mount Vernon known as The Perspective. The basic approach is, "You've been converted! Now what?"
Here is a rough outline:
(1) "Feeding Yourself." I've written this already and you can find it here in PDF.
(2) "Don't Go It Alone." This will be on the necessity of community for Christian living.
(3) "Remember, It's All Sacred Now." This is to teach that as a Christian, all of your life is now under the umbrella of Christ's authority.
(4) "Start Smashing Idols." This is on the necessity of identifying and turning from those things/thoughts/ideas that woo us away from worshiping the One, True God.
(5) "Say Something." We are to be a verbal witness. This article will try to condense how to begin thinking of yourself as an evangelist.
(6) "Don't Forget How You Got Here." This article will insist that you got to the Christian faith by embracing Christ's substitutionary atonement and you will persevere through all sorts of trials by remembering and applying the Cross to your daily life.
(7) "Keep Digging." It is not enough to read the Bible, we need to study with the goal of understanding God and his plan for our redemption.
My prayer is that as we keep these seven ideas in the forefront of our minds, and practice them in our daily lives, we will understand better what it means to draw near to God.