Research shows that the average adults makes about 35,000 decisions in a day. It goes on to say that the average parent makes “many more than the average adult”. I can only deduce that this means that moms make roughly 1,783,542 decisions in a day. Today, we’re talking about the most important decision of your life and the generational impact it has. I’ll pose six questions to ask yourself that help your understanding of your identity in Christ as being accepted.
CLICK PLAY TO LISTEN: EP 12
Q1: What is Considered Being Accepted?
Crossing the line of faith, becoming a Christian, and accepting Christ as your Lord and savior are all talking about the same decision: choosing to wholeheartedly follow God. This is the most important decision of your life, and it has an eternal impact. If you’ve already accepted Christ, stick around to see the impact your decision has on those around you.
I know our human brains can’t fully grasp what eternity must be like, so today we’ll take a look at the generational impact of this decision as well. Human brains are more likely to grasp something that happens to themselves, their kids, and grandkids, than the abstract of eternity. Oh, silly human brains.
Defining Accepted Through a Biblical Lens
Let’s define “accepted”. Good ol Merriam says that being accepted is to be regarded favorably, given approval, and recognized as being valid or correct. When you make the most important decision of your life to follow Jesus, you are instantly accepted into God’s family. You are saved once and for all, for all eternity. Here’s a verse from Isaiah that illustrates this:
“’Come now, let’s settle this’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.'”
Isaiah 1:18
Have you ever done a load of laundry and washed a red sock in your whites? Or, you washed your kids white baseball pants with the uniform top on the wrong setting, and now your kid has to do the walk of shame up to bat because of the ridiculous color of his pants? Oopsie. Consider God the ultimate Oxiclean for your soul, but even better.
God takes our damaged, stained human bodies we were born into, and He wipes it clean once and for all. He takes our sin, and makes us completely white as snow. This happens when you make the the most important decision of your life, and choose to follow Christ. You become accepted.
Q2: How Do I Become Accepted?
You may have already made the the most important decision of your life to follow God, but are you able to articulate this process to someone else? Do your kids know what it means to accept Christ? This section will give you some scripture to help you clarify this to those you’ve been entrusted with (your kids, your coworkers, your friends, etc…).
Have heard of something called the Roman Road? No, we’re not talking about the actual construction of the roads in Rome. The phrase “Roman Road” is just a catchy way of saying “a group of verses from the book of Romans that show you a simplified path to salvation” in the Christian faith. Here’s a simple way to walk through the most important decision of your life.
Scripture of the Roman Road
Romans 3:23 says, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” It’s no secret that we are naturally inclined to sin. Eek! Don’t let that scare you away from God. In fact, in our sinful state we need to run to God. He’s the only one who can fix it.
Romans 5:8 says, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God is love, and because He loves us so much, He meets us in our mess, and chose to sacrifice himself in order to save us. God is so nice!
Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” Everybody likes a freebie, am I right? God is so nice that the gift of eternal salvation is just that, a gift. It’s free for everybody, all you have to do is accept Him as your Lord and savior.
Romans 8:1 says, “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” Once you accept Christ as your Lord and savior, He accepts you into His body of believers. The exchange is called redemption, and you can hear all about that in episode 5.
Romans 10:9 says, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Jesus is alive and He reigns forever. He is active, working all things for good. If you have made the most important decision of your life, share it with others. It’s a big deal!
These five scriptures of the Roman Road can help you clarify your thoughts when you’re explaining salvation to someone. Don’t overcomplicate it! The most important decision of your life is also the most important decision of their life.
Q3: What’s an Example from the Bible?
There is a great parallel to this reciprocity of acceptance in the book of Ruth. In this story, we can draw on similarities of God offering up His free gift of salvation, us choosing to accept it, and in return, being accepted into His family. Ruth is only 4 chapters long, and you could read it in less time than it takes to let your nail polish dry. So if you needed a reason to go ahead and redo your nails, there you go. You’re welcome. Hear this example of the most important decision of your life through Ruth’s story.
Ruth’s Story
Let’s go back to between 1160 and 1100 BC during the time of the judges. We’ll be in the book of Ruth, and in true Busy Christian Mom fashion, here’s the Brooke Breakdown:
- Elimelech & Naomi are married with two sons (Mahlon and Kilion)
- Bethlehem has a famine, Elimelech takes his family to Moab (then he dies)
- Mahlon and Kilion marry Orpah and Ruth
- The sons die, the wives-now-widows are presented with a choice
- Orpah chooses to go to back to her homeland
- Ruth chooses to stay with Naomi (“Where you go I’ll go.”)
- Naomi and Ruth head back to Bethlehem since the famine is now over
I don’t know about you, but that’s a wild time int he world to be a newlywed. Here’s what Ruth said when her mother-in-law tried to get her to go back to her people:
“But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.”
Ruth 1:16-18
Ruth saw Naomi’s relationship with God, and she wanted that. Ruth was fully prepared to accept God as her Lord. Through her time with this family, she saw the depth of this relationship. She made the most important decision of her life, and it had an eternal, and generational, impact.
Ruth’s Impact
From there she goes on to meet a man named Boaz, who is the son of Rahab! Remember her? We talked about Rahab in episode 7, and because she also made the most important decision of her life, that led to the generational impact of her son, Boaz, also becoming a follower of God. What?!
Furthermore, Ruth and Boaz go on to have son named Obed, who has a son named Jesse. Jesse is the father of David (the shepherd David, the David and Goliath David, one of the best harpists known to man David, King David, the same David that is in the line of Jesus Christ, David). Talk about a generational impact.
The most important decision of your life never returns void. There is always positive impact and return. Ruth certainly knew that, and we can see from her history that truly miraculous things happen when you choose to follow Jesus.
Q4: How Do I Live This Out?
Well, Brooke, I’m no Ruth, so how can I even begin to live out this eternal and generational altering decision? So glad you asked, friend. First, it is a simple decision, and the answer is either a yes or a no. The most important decision of your life is this: Will you choose to accept Christ as your savior?
If yes, congratulations! You’ve just began your new life. I highly recommend that you go back and listen to episodes 2-10 of the Identity Crisis Mini Series, because you are now considered Daughter of the King!
Still on the fence? Here’s your next step: message me on Instagram with your questions. You can find me at Busy Christian Mom. Message me right now with any questions, comments, or concerns you have. I’ll write you back.
If you have accepted Christ and are choosing to follow Him know this: This decision is personal, but it’s not private. Tell someone that you just made the most important decision of your life! If you don’t have someone at the ready, message me on Instagram. I want to cheer you on and encourage you! Last week, we talked about a woman who chose to follow Christ, and then went and told her whole village. Check her story out in episode 10!
If you’re looking for practical ways to live as a follower of Christ, I have four simple ways that you can do that. Doing these four things consistently will help you grow your relationship with God and point other to Him:
- Read your Bible
- Pray and talk/listen to God
- Talk and grow with other believers
- Tell others about Jesus
Q5: What is a Simple Way to Lead People to Christ?
Excellent, Brooke. I have four practical steps to grow my relationship with God, but how to I help others cross the line of faith too? I want them to choose wisely when it comes to the most important decision of your life. Hooray! Such a great question! Let’s keep it simple:
- Save and/or share this episode: it has the Roman Road scriptures built right into it, so it’s easy to have someone tune in and hear it all explained.
- Walk through the Roman Road verses with someone (save this blog post to your Pinterest board or email it to yourself)
- The ABC method: Admit (you’re a sinner needing saving), Believe (that Jesus is the son of God, died on the cross to save us from our sins, and rose three days later), and Commit (commit your life to Christ and follow Him). ABCs is sometimes easier to remember than the Roman Road, so do what works best for you. Again, save this episode and blog post so you can easily refer back to it.
Salvation is simple. Don’t overcomplicate it. Pray and ask God to guide you in these conversations. Pray for boldness, wisdom, and integrity as you walk this out in the world. You have the opportunity to let the most important decision of your life have a generational impact on those around you. Your decision affects your kids, and I know I want to see my kiddos in Heaven one day. So you can better believe I’m hitting those ABCs with them. If you’re stuck on this part about telling others about Jesus, tune into episode 8.
Q6: How Do I Know I’m Doing This Right?
All right, Brooke, I get it. I have made the most important decision of my life. I have chosen to follow God, I’m accepted into His family, I’ve heard Ruth’s story, I know I need to spend time with God, and I can point people in the right direction when it comes to salvation in Christ. So, can I get some assurance? How do I know I’m even doing this right? Glad, you asked!
When we grow closer to God, we begin to look more like Him every day. This fancy Christian word is called sanctification, or the sanctification process. When we regularly choose to prioritize God through reading our Bibles, praying consistently, meeting in Christian community to encourage each other, and tell others about how God has worked in your life, we begin to bear fruit.
Fruit of the Spirit
No, not fruit that looks like bears. Bearing fruit is another Christian term that means whatever is planted in your heart, begins to outwardly show. Newsflash: you’ve been bearing fruit your whole life, but it may have not been good fruit. The promise God gives us is that we’ll begin to bear good fruit when we accept Christ as our savior. There’s a verse in Galatians that talks about the fruit of the spirit. Take a look:
“Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
Galatians 5:22-23
As you walk more and more with God, you’ll bear more fruit of the spirit. You’ll become more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. From a personal standpoint, when I first began teaching and coaching, I was not very patient. As I spent more time with God, I began to bear more fruit that resembles Him better than before.
Later down the road I would hear comments like, “How are you so patient? I could never coach 4 years olds.” or “You work with high schoolers? I could never have that kind of patience.” Here’s what I know. There is no way I could have that level of patience either without the help of God. So, my response back to these comments sound something like, “Only God could help me coach these 4 year olds. Feel free to pray for me. I need it!” or “How do I do this kind of work? Jesus. I literally couldn’t do it without Him.”
The more I spent time with God, the more good fruit I began to bear. This cycle just keeps getting better! It’s super humbling, because there is absolutely no good way to coach Pre-K kids soccer without the help of Jesus…there just isn’t. The same goes for parenting preteens, God help us all.
It is promised that the more time you spend with Jesus, the more fruit you’ll bear. Go back to the verse in Galatians, have an honest check in with you and God, and see which fruit you’d like to improve on first. Pray about it, ask for help, and do your best. When you make the most important decision of your life, it will never return void. There is always good fruit to bear.
Let your good fruit have a generational impact on the youngers around you. If your kid is involved in something, show up with a holy anticipation that God is going to do something to where you can point people back to Him.
Whether you’re the coach, the parent, or the aunt, or “Sloane, Scout, and Rhett’s mom”, you have the opportunity to pour this good fruit into their lives. There are a ton of right ways to do this. Ask God to guide you in baby step fashion. When He sparks that idea, say yes and follow through.
On this side of Heaven, you may never know the positive impact you have on someone. Trust the process. God’s got this, and we’ve been given the honor to point people back to Him. Follow His lead, and He will tell you how this comes to life in your day to day schedule. The most important decision of your life and the generational impact it has can be not only a life changer for someone, but an eternity changer too.
Podcast Recap
- Q1: What is Considered Being Accepted? (choosing Christ)
- Q2: How Do I Become Accepted? (Roman Road)
- Q3: What’s an Example from the Bible? (Ruth)
- Q4: How Do I Live This Out? (Read Pray Talk Tell)
- Q5: What is a simple way to lead others to Christ? (ABC method +save this post)
- Q6: How Do I Know I’m Doing This Right? (Fruit of the Spirit)
Scripture Recap
- Isaiah 1:18
- Romans 3:23
- Romans 5:8
- Romans 6:23
- Romans 8:1
- Romans 10:9
- Ruth 1:16-18
- Galatians 5:22-23
I am the daughter of the King. I am chosen, forgiven, redeemed. I am loved and I belong. I am bold, brave, and strong. I am seen. I’m accepted. I am able. I’m protected. Through Him I can do anything. Because I’m the daughter of the King.
Busy Christian Mom Credo, Brooke Collier
Links from the Show:
