Faith is more than one big moment.
At some point in your life, you may have decided to say "yes" to the question "do you want to ask Jesus into your heart?" You prayed a prayer after someone who sat with you. Maybe you knelt at an alter, or came forward at a youth rally. Perhaps you wanted to ensure you wouldn't go to hell, so you simply said you'd be a Christian. But what they didn't tell you is that your Christian faith is more than "the big moment".
Don't get me wrong at all. The Bible clearly says, "if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." But what happens to those people who "fall away"? Why do so many high school kids say "yes! I want to be a Christian!" then spend the next 3 years avidly attending youth group and every trip offered, only to do a complete 180 in collage and suddenly not care about the passion they once had in Christ? I've seen it over and over again.
I think one reason is because we highlight the "big moment" of coming to Christ. We say here is all you need to do (and it is all you need to do) to be a Christian. But what about when life suddenly slams you in the face? Where is the "big moment" then? What about when the grades fall, the job is lost, the loved one dies, the life falls to pieces? I hear many people say "where is God when...?" Though those things can be hard to explain, it's important to know that He is in the same spot you left Him when you had your "big moment". The only difference is that you were seeking Him, rather than waiting for Him to come to you.
Everyday is a choice. Everyday we must say "yes" to God. Just because we celebrated saying "yes" ultimately to God in that early relationship with Him, doesn't mean you'll have a "big moment" everyday of your life. Life will still have days that drag. It will still have days that leave you in tears, or laughing, or just another day like yesterday at the same job, picking up the same toys, and studying for the same class.
Everyday, you must choose to say "yes, God. I trust you with this day." Then you must live your day in that mentality. He will open the door to those that seek Him. But, you must seek Him. You must ask Him. You must pick up your cross daily.
Luke 9:23 says "Then He said to them all: 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me."
It's right there. We can seek God out and choose to say "yes" to Him everyday, or we can sit around, waiting for Him to show up on our terms and never stretch our faith. You know you have mature faith when you can grow it in the good, the bad and they mundane. Seek Him daily.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."
Matthew 7:7-8
"If you look for Me wholeheartedly, you will find Me." - Jeremiah 29:13
