I've noticed that there are various human activities that I can do more or less well: playing a musical instrument, playing basketball, preaching, being a husband. Given this list, you can come up with a list for your own life. In general, if we want to do an activity well, it's essential to do a few things:

1.Recognize that there are standards that say what "doing well" means
with regard to each activity. Rev. Richard
2.Familiarize ourselves with those standards.
3.Submit ourselves to those standards, such that they become our standards.
4.Carry through over the long haul.

I started playing trumpet when I was in 5th grade. I was pretty good, relative to other beginners. I was so good, I was frequently first chair. My "doing well" at playing trumpet didn't last long because I didn't submit myself to the standards as I became more aware of them. The main standard I rejected was the necessity of persistent practice. Why? My failure was mostly because I was lazy. I could say it was because I was more interested in in playing (outside with friends) than playing the trumpet, but the truth is that playing the trumpet well required work and discipline I wasn't willing to do. Now when I have a clearer idea of what a musician can do, I regret that lack of work and discipline.

There is also such a thing as "doing well at being a Christian." Being a disciple of Jesus is more than a binary option, more than just "you are or you aren't." Jesus seeks people who will believe him. "Believing him" is more than just believing he exists, more than believing a list of facts about him. It includes believing what he says and taking it as authoritative for our lives.

Jesus seeks people who will trust him. The beginning of this trust is entrusting ourselves to him for forgiveness and eternal life. That trust includes also trusting Jesus with our relationships, our time, our finances, our life decisions.

Jesus seeks people who will be loyal to him, who will give their primary allegiance to his kingdom. You know there are plenty of people running around trying to win your allegiance to their product, their ideology, or their plan for the good life.

Jesus also seeks people who will, by exercising these other dimensions of faith, learn to see and interpret people, situations – in fact every area of life – from his point of view and learning to act as he would act.

Responding to Jesus in these ways, doing what we call "living a life of faith," is something we can do more or less well. Doing well in this area, like every other area, is not something that happens automatically. It's not something that merely happens to us, as if we were passive objects. It requires intentionality on our part to achieve this vision of doing well. Are you willing to take up such a vision of life with Christ?

1 Corinthians 15:58
Rev. Richard Heyduck