We often hear a wonderful sermon on a Sunday morning or an inspired lesson during the midweek service, but despite our best intentions, by the next morning we’re on to the next challenge in life, and we may forget to apply what we heard or learned … Sadly, this is the nature of the flesh (Galatians 5:17). Unless we intentionally seek to walk after the ways of Christ, we can quickly fall into a pattern that may not be sinful, but it also isn’t necessarily godly.

To this end, I’ve adapted a list of “ideas” that a seminar class developed at the recent GMBA campout, which I thought were pretty good! I’ve challenged myself to apply at least a few of these ideas in an effort to help build His Kingdom and remain close with Him every day. I challenge you to do the same:

• Be a greater example to those who you interact with from day to day.
• Intentionally reach out to others who need help.
• Invite a couple (or an individual) to your home to share your life experience or ask about theirs.
• Engage in a conversation with a teenager, the elderly, and the in between, even if they look very different than you (blue hair, tattoos, piercings, different race or nationality, etc.).
• Share a personal struggle in your life and how Christ “got you through it,” or ask for help from those you respect in the Church who could give you sound spiritual counsel.
• Mentor someone younger by reaching out to them, or ask someone older if they would be willing to be a mentor (take time to engage and build a relationship).
• Be more inclusive by stepping outside your comfort zone or familiar group and interacting with others within the Church and outside of the Church.
• Call, text, or write a note to someone with a word of encouragement.
• When someone shares a need with you, stop and pray with them.
• If you go to the hospital to visit someone, offer a word of prayer with them.
• Reach out to those who have disabilities.
• Be persistent in love, even if it doesn’t appear someone is receptive at first. Love them, love them, love them.
• Reach out to the homeless and hungry, or help meet the needs of the addicted or abused.
• When you’re involved with groups or organizations outside of the Church, ask permission to offer a prayer before a meal or ending a meeting.
• Visit a nursing home or veteran’s home, and take someone with you — just listening, holding someone’s hand, reading scripture, or singing can make a difference.
• Go to breakfast or coffee with a group of peers, where you can offer words of encouragement and strength, share your testimony, and invite friends to come to church.
• Looking for a reason to invite others to your home? offer to host a cooking class in your home, and then eat the fruits of your labor together.
• Get up every day and ask the Lord for the opportunity to tell someone about what Christ has done for you.
• If you’re an experienced parent, offer loving instruction to a younger parent by telling about your own fears and what you learned through a similar experience.
• Offer to share what you know about buying a car, getting a mortgage, going away to college, banking, home repair, etc. with someone who might need it.
• When going for a walk in your neighborhood or working out at the gym, look for someone to share the joy of Christ with.
• Stop thinking you’re too old, too young, too weak, too [fill in the blank] by reminding yourself that you’re a child of the King, and with Christ all things are possible.

This list is surely not all-inclusive, and a number of these examples may not appear too spiritual on the surface, but if we look to include the spiritual aspect of these events in our lives, we can be “in the world but not of the world” as we build the Kingdom of God upon the face of the earth.

May God bless you in this challenge!

This article has undergone ministry review and approval.