“How disappointed God must be that we can’t even practice the basic three.”
When I refer to “the basic three,” I mean the minimum required of us as Christians. The basic three in our Christian walk are: read the Bible, pray, and witness. How hard is that? I’m not writing this because I think it’s easy. In fact, I’m writing this because I often fail to do these things, as basic as they may be.
As a future teacher, I am learning how to write lesson plans and goals. When you sit down to write goals for a lesson, there are "the basic three" requirements for every goal. Every goal needs to be specific, measurable, and observable. However, these are just the basic requirements. Goals are intended to challenge student’s thinking beyond explaining or defining content. A teacher must consider more than just the basic three if he/she wants the lesson to be effective.
I believe this applies to us as Christians. The basic three is required of us, yet there is so much more for us to consider if we want to become effective for Christ. The basic three are not meant for us to practice only when life is easy. Here is my challenge to all Christians, including myself: Practice the basic three daily. Practice them when you’re on the mountain top and everything in your life is going well. Practice them when you’re in the valley and circumstances have you bound.
Read your Bible when you don’t feel like it and angry tears smudge the pages. Pray when you barely have the words to say. Witness even when you don’t feel adequate and when you believe your testimony is invalid. “...Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required...” (Luke 12:48). Practice the basic three, but don’t stop there. In order to become an effective Christian, more is required of you than these three things. So much more. Don’t stop at the bare minimum when God has more in store for you.
It’s easy to tell you to do to all of these things, but I recognize the struggle. Circumstances often hinder our ability to practice even the basic three in our daily lives. However, that is no excuse for us. How disappointed God must be that we can’t even practice the basic three. Let’s challenge each other to do what is required...and then go beyond that.