Christian living encompasses an enormous number of issues and is not always easy. Francis Schaeffer once famously asked (and answered) the defining issue for believers in every age: “How shall we then live?” To properly answer that question about Christian living, it involves understanding our desperate condition apart from God, what He did for us on the Cross, how we are changed based upon that divine work, and, finally, how we are to respond in gratitude for the work He has already done. Once we understand those things, it becomes easier (though not easy) to pursue the glory of God in all things. To that end, here are 12 steps you can take to help in that journey of avoiding sin and becoming more and more like Christ in the process.
(1) Memorize and assimilate the Scriptures. “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Ps. 119:11).
(2) Submit to the known will of God. “Submit yourselves therefore to God” (Jas. 4:7a).
(3) Resist the Devil. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (Jas. 4:7b).
(4) Make no provision for sinful activity. “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Rom. 13:14).
(5) Maintain a conscious dependency upon the Holy Spirit. “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Rom. 8:13).
(6) Practice self-mortification. “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Col. 3:5)
(7) Walk in love. “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour” (Eph. 5:2).
(8) Walk in the light. “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8).
(9) Renew your mind. “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:2).
(10) Be vigilant. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8).
(11) Redeem the time. “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:16).
(12) Sing spiritual songs. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Col. 3:16).
The Collected Works of Stanford E. Murrell 