By Alex Brickey

CIU Student Writer

The students swayed back and forth like grass in the wind as they sang praises to their God. It was a brief reminder that while the flowers fade and the grass withers, the word of the Lord is forever. And the word of the Lord would be front and center on the first day of  CIU’s annual Christian Life Conference celebrating the CIU core value of the Victorious Christian Life.

As the week began, keynote speaker, Dr. Michael Avery of Deeper Life Ministries focused on Ephesians 3:14-21 and II Corinthians 3:18 about where the difference begins in the Christian life.

“Has it ever dawned on you that God has specific objectives for you?” he asked the sea of students. He then furthered his point by bringing up quotes from distinguished theologians and authors, such as J.I. Packer, C.S. Lewis, Dallas Willard, and John Stott, about how our goal is to be made holy like Christ. We are to be conformed to Christ and filled with the fullness of God, filled with righteousness fully pleasing to Him.

Furthermore, Avery warned about shallow Christianity in today’s American church and the “new norm” of self-centered, emotionally driven, and intellectually empty faith. Avery went on to list the attributes of a shallow Christian, and the danger of excusing sin but not addressing it. However, he said deep Christians know God, their souls are biblically nourished, their lives are marked by total surrender to God, and they manifest the mind of Christ and character of Him. (Phil. 2:5-8).

He wrapped up the talk by pointing toward a picture of three people: musician Yo-Yo Ma, basketball great Michael Jordan, and NFL quarterback Tom Brady. Avery pointed out that each one of them has worked at least over 10,000 hours to get where they are in this world. He made the point, that if we as Christians were to put that amount of effort into heavenly things rather than earthly things, how great would be our joy as Christians?

Listen to the messages from the 2020 Christian Life Conference on CIU's podcasts. 

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