The focus of this blog has been on getting you to the point where you can intellectually accept that Jesus and God are very real, and that you can commit in good faith to a relationship without surrendering your intellectual integrity.  I’ve gotten mixed reviews on my ability to do this; people open to the possibility are generally convinced, but hardcore skeptics think I’m deluded beyond even psychiatric help.

Once you’ve actually made it to the point where you accept Christ (or rededicate your life to Christ, in the case of one recent e-mail correspondence I had), what do you do?  Well, Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life worked for me.

Warren’s simple 40-day devotional gave me a great introduction into what it meas to be a Christian.  It helped turn the five New Testament purposes for a church into

Shorter and better, however, are Brownlow North’s Six Short Rules for Young Christians.  These aren’t just for young or new Christians–these will work for any Christian, no matter how far along in his or spiritual journey.

First:

Never neglect daily private prayer; and when you pray, remember that God is present, and that he hears your prayers (Heb 11:6).

Short and simple, and something that I think many people forget.  Being omnipresent in our reality, God is present during your prayers and he hears your request.  This doesn’t obligate him to answer affirmatively, but he is present and he does hear you.

That’s simple, yet very deep.  Let’s just think about that for today, and I’ll have more to say on this issue tomorrow, because this rule combined with rule #2 will have a profound effect on the life of the Christian.