Living Out a Slow Christian Life

Join me as we continue our series through The Art of Slow Christian Living, as we focus on using our surrender and Scripture based home atmosphere to help us discern and reason what to allow or avoid into our home and hearts.

If you have not read and watched the first three “episodes” of The Art of Slow Christian Living series I highly recommend doing that first.

We are going to be tying in those previous lessons, to help us live out a life of slow Christian living. We are going to see how it all fits together with God’s design and creation.

If you are looking for lifestyle choices our family personally makes, see Living a Slow Christian Lifestyle. This post and video is focused on using our surrender and Scripture based home atmosphere to help us discern and reason what to allow in our home and hearts. We will also discuss what to utilize in God’s creation, what to avoid, and how to conform to how God has commanded us to live.

God’s Creation – The World and You

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, the waters and the land, the light and the darkness, all the living creatures of all kinds, and of course, He created humankind in the image of God. One thing that we often forget when reading through the first chapter of Genesis, are all of the verses that come after God is finished creating something, and they say, “And God saw that it was good”. We often forget looking around at our world, and at the people today, that God’s creation is still good.

Whether we are looking at the scenery of His creation, what comes forth from His creation, the animals of His creation, or the people He created, we can always find something wrong with it or a way to abuse it. We often take His many creations for granted or alter them for selfish reasons or gains.

But what if we took a step back, looking at all of His creations with love? What if we looked at God’s creation with a more simplistic mindset? What is we focused less on changing what He created instead of altering it’s beauty and benefits? This is where using our gifts of discernment and reason comes in.

The Gifts of Discernment and Reason

When we get into the nitty gritty of looking at what to allow in our homes and what to avoid, God gave us the beautiful gifts of being able to reason and discern. It is important to remember that as humans, we can’t create out of nothing. We can only create from what God has created. Utilizing God’s creation in order to create is essential and an additional gift from God. However, we (humans) also use God’s creation to create bad.

Our society specifically has focused on creating and producing mass quantities, at the cheapest price, resulting in low quality. Low quality in ingredients, materials used, processing, factory conditions, and longevity of the product. Unfortunately, many of us can acknowledge this fact, but don’t make any changes.

Discernment and Reason for Slow Christian Living

This is where discernment and reason come in. In fact, using discernment and reason is how God has intended for us to live in order to avoid sin, and find truth in God’s Revelation. We must, let me repeat, we MUST ask a few questions when deciphering whether something (big or small, expensive or cheap) should come into your home:

Is it God honoring?
Did I pray about this purchase?
Does it go against or take away the benefits of its natural creation?
What is this made of?
It is toxic to my family?
Does it help my vocation of homemaking?
How has it been made?
How has it been altered?
Can I find it used?
Do I need it?

Whether you are looking at purchasing salt, a couch, buying a book, cleaning products, socks, a tooth brush, a candle, or food, one must discern what company they want to support and if the product will benefit or potentially harm their family. This can be as simple as listening to the “gut” feeling God has given you.

We also have the opportunity and resources in order to do research about companies, product ingredients, synthetic chemicals used, and research studies already conducted. God did not make us to be content and lazy. God created us with curiosity, intelligence, creativity, and love. Are we doing our role as homemakers, as wives, as mothers, to love our families by falling into the trap of convenience? How can we love our family and God’s creation the best?

Slow Christian Living in Action

Surrender

Before you can discern and reason between products, services, companies, and all of life’s decisions, you must surrender. When you surrender your heart, your will, your desires to God, you allow Him to work in you, to talk to you, and to move through you. There is no way you can discern what God wants you to do, or is telling you to do, unless you are in a position to listen. If you aren’t willing to surrender, then you will search for and listen to the answer you are wanting to hear.

Once you have surrendered your heart and will to God, you must try to live out a Scripture based atmosphere. Again, you can read deeper on that in episode 3, but to sum it up, your home will have three things: faith, wisdom, and blessings.

Faith, Wisdom, Blessings

In order to hear God’s wisdom, you must have faith that He will give it to you. You must not be discouraged when you don’t hear His answer immediately. Having faith means that you trust the Lord to reveal what He wants to you, when He wants to. You trust that He will guide you and your family, even if you don’t hear an exact “yes” or “no”. Listen to the feelings He places in your heart and gut, listen to the Holy Spirit stirring inside you leaning one way or another. When you have faith, when you receive wisdom, you will then receive your blessing.

You may be blessed with whatever product or service you are discerning about, you may receive the blessing of peace or joy, your blessing may be disguised as suffering in order for God to use you and bring you to the better place He wants you. Remember, when you surrender you will be able to discern and reason, you will be able to use your faith to hear God’s wisdom, and you will be blessed.