Chapter 2
"Understanding the Transition
Christians"
Copyright 2010 By; Esta Nelson
Transition Christians are people who come to know Christ later in life, in adulthood. These are people who may not have been raised in a Christian house hold and / or not familiar with the ways of church. I want to encourage people to understand this. Many people like myself have not been raised to walk in Gods light or been disciple in the true way and end up drifting away for lack of understanding. Some come from broken, corrupted dysfunctional families and life styles, even from happy loving families but without God. I want to encourage people who come to Christ later in life and to help the church to understand this. Transition Christians are not a new Phenomenon. In fact first century church began with them; Paul himself was a transition Christian. While some early converts grew up in the Jewish faith, those who were Gentiles did not, so there was a division between the people because both had to over come that which they came from and one felt superior over the other because they were given the oracles of God that was suppose to lead the others to God, but they failed to do so, that is what our Lord Jesus Christ came to do. He came to bring people together in unity to God to one people. Many long term Christians and teachers tend to forget this and are unaware of there haughtiness toward a new convert or fail to see how they are being seen by them, forgetting the baggage they carry with them. As for the transition Christian they must not see the church as the savior because the church is made up of imperfect human beings they need to understand to make Jesus Christ the center of your life, not the church. God said look to him and into that which is perfect (Jesus) seek and follow after him, his teachings, and his ways, seek and you will find ask and you will receive. True disciples of Jesus remain faithful to his teachings and will know the truth and the truth will set you free. John 8:31-32.Transition Christians carry a life time of conditioned baggage with them that must be dealt with, many long term Christians are unequipped to serve their needs because they have not walked the road they did or fail to remember that they use to, so it is very hard for them to be of a understanding heart and understand the battles they face. Jesus said in Mark 2:17, healthy people don’t need doctors sick people do, he did not come to call the righteous but those who know they are sinners, and many misguided church groups miss that point completely and form a click, a private club so to speak fearing anyone else outside their ways, fear of corrupting their balance, casting them out if they don’t conform to their rituals and traditions, ultimately causing the new Christian to feel like an outsider, unable to fit in. The devil looks for that in people then goes to work convincing the unlearned unstable person that God doesn’t want them and they fall back into the pit from where they came. The church must understand that while random acts of kindness are well and good but to the unbeliever or new Christian that’s all it is to them, it dose not send the message of Christ that God loves them and wants them and that they are precious to him and that Jesus sacrificial death was for sinners not the righteous. Righteousness comes over time in coming to Christ through growing and developing spiritually. The church must never look down their noses in placing themselves above anyone else, to realize them of great value to the church because in them holds a treasure of experiences that can help someone else along the way, the body of Christ is made up of different parts to make the whole thing work together. No one is better then anyone else, I like the bumper sticker that reads “ Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven” this is a realization that all must come to understand no matter how long you have been walking with God or how long you have not. Jesus died and rose again for ALL people and we must not let anyone or anything take that away from us. We must not let ourselves be blinded by human failures in the church, or close our eyes from someone who is not like you. For every Paul that walks into the church there must be a Barnabas to take him by the hand and encourage him and show him the true way of Christ in love and forgiveness with feelings of acceptance. We all must realize Christianity is about Christ and developing our relationship with God in being Christ-like. We must be careful in making the church the center of our life; while it is good for us to have fellowship with other believers for sharing and caring and up lifting but beware it can turn into a trap causing a person to live for the church and their ways rather then the true way of Christ. That’s why there are so many denominations because someone stepped out side of Christ ways and made up their own ways demanding their way is better then the other, thus we have a division among the people, the devil will do all he can to divide the people and separate them from Christ. We must take responsibility for our own spiritual growth; by turning to the Lord rather then relying on humans, it is tempting and foolish to expect other people to take care of our spiritual needs, it can lead to disappointment, confusion, and a false misguided zeal that is really for the church rather then for God, and it is foolishness and haughtiness for anyone should think they can take on the role of being a savior and lord it over people. There is only one God and one teacher that can change a person and it is to him we must turn to and live for. No one can make a person grow; no one can make a person read the Bible or pray that is in the capable hands of God through the power of the Holy Spirit into the willing heart, the one who longs to seek the truth, and live Gods will. This is what needs to be shown to the new Christian even the unbelievers to not how good and wonderful and holy you are but in showing them all Gods children are through forgiveness and his grace. They don’t need to be lorded over in showing how sinful and bad they are. The long term Christian must see and understand things through the eyes of the new Christian or even the unbeliever, because they carry the guilt of slavery to the condition of life they lived, the devil will try and make sure they hold on to that guilt rendering low self worth, even holding on to suspicions of God through mistreatment of false churches and false Christians. In my experience I’ve come to understand that in the case of most people, it’s not really that they don’t believe in God but rather the source of those who represents him then stand at a distant of God because of false representation of him. I believe this to be the rapid decline of church attendants, when the sheep aren’t being fed they tend to wonder off, word of mouth spreads quickly among non church goers, and the sad thing I see in the church group is if they see a fellow member not coming back no one ever goes to them and find out why or try and see how they can fix the wrong, they simply let them fall by the wayside, why this happens I feel that the attitude of self-righteous pride, guilt and lack of true Christ love that stops them. In my writings I don’t mean to sound as if I’m dogging all church groups but being inspired through the Holy Spirit and through my life experiences I’m compelled to address this issue . I’ve witnessed the damage that false religion, false churches and false Christians have done to me as well as a vast many others, and we are warned to beware of this through out the writings in the New Testaments and made clear in the letters from Paul to Timothy and Titus and from the letters of James, Peter, 1John and Jude. Jesus said in Matt.7:15-16 beware false prophets disguised as harmless sheep. That’s why I say seek God first, Matt. 6:33, through reading for yourselves the truth of God and his ways, and when you have come to understanding then you can arm yourselves in true discernment in the wisdom of Christ, learning to separate spiritualism from humanism, then enjoy a life of walking in a one on one relationship with your Lord and savior in Gods light, this I pray for all people.