The COmMISSIONer Page 6 W W h y h y C C hristians hristians s s hould hould a a ttend ttend C C hurCh hurCh ? ? This month’s theme is “A New You!” This month’s reason why YOU should go to church is... To Put On the New You! Each issue will have a new theme and will give a new reason why Christians should attend church. E ver make a New Year’s resolution to quit smoking, drinking too much or cussing and still hang out with people who do it all the time? It’s almost impossible to succeed. Common sense will tell you that if you want to stop a bad habit, then don’t hang around with people who still do it. This doesn’t mean you can’t speak to, care for, or spend any time with them at all. Hanging around someone means spending most of your time with them. We’ve all heard the old saying that “birds of a feather flock together.” That means that people tend to hang out with other people that have the same likes, dislikes and habits. It’s true that people who smoke, drink and/or cuss tend to hang out with other people who do too. The same is true for just about any other activity. People who like to hunt, fish and go camping usually hang out with others who like to hunt, fish and go camping too. It’s nor- mal and it’s really no big deal. We just need to un- derstand how we all make choices. Sometimes we do things just because we’ve seen everyone else doing it all our lives. These habits just seem to come naturally to us. It’s not until we spend some time away from our normal surroundings that we even begin to consider that there may be another way of behaving, believing, or belonging. LEARNING SOMETHING NEW The same concept is true if you want to start a new habit or learn a new skill. For example, if your New Year’s goal is to learn to work on your own car, then you need to hang out with people who know how to work on cars. If your goal is to learn how to play a musical instrument, then you need to take lessons. If your New Year’s resolution is to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and begin living for Him, then you need to hang out with other people who have made the same decision and have the same lifestyle. PUTTING ON THE NEW YOU! Colossians 2:12 says that “you were buried with Christ when you were baptized...you were raised to new life” and Romans 6:4 says that “we are buried with him by baptism...so we also should walk in newness of life”. Colossians 3 talks about this new way of living. In verses 1-10, it teaches those who have been “raised in Christ” (see What Is Baptism? on page XX) to “set your hearts on things above...not on earthly things... Put to death, there- fore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sex- ual immorality, impurity , lust, evil desires and greed...You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slan- der, and filthy language from your lips... since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self ” . This issue’s theme scripture is 2 Corinthians 5:17 and states that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.” So, this month’s reason why Christians should go to church is so that we can be taught, learn, and have the opportunity to “ put on the new man...a true and holy way of living” (Ephesians 4:24). Going to church and hanging out with other people who have made the same deci- sion to make Jesus Christ the Lord of their lives will help YOU become the new man or woman you have chosen to be in 2011! 2010 © The Christian Community Resource Guide, Inc. All Rights Reserved Unicoi United Methodist Church, Unicoi, TN
