Hello everyone! I have a question as a growing Christian.

Lately my faith has gone from "go to church everyday and I'll get to heaven" to actually seeking out God and wanting to be a good Christian. But I've been struggling with this question. How do I know if some of the things I'm doing in my Christianity isn't just for myself to feel good and for me to be able to call myself a Christian?

If your faith doesn't hurt you a little, you are doing it wrong.

There is nothing wrong about feeling good when you do something right in the eyes of the lord.

Hello! The word of God is your guide. If you seek God with all your heart you will find him and his wisdom will never leave you. You will be rewarded, and that includes being protected from going astray.

Proverbs 2:1-11 KJV
My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; [2] So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; [3] Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; [4] If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; [5] Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. [6] For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. [7] He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. [8] He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. [9] Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. [10] When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; [11] Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

Precious friend, A Very Warm Welcome To Chat.

Thanks for the growing question; I hope these will be helpful:

Please Be Very RICHLY Encouraged And Edified In
The LORD JESUS CHRIST, And His Word Of Truth, Rightly
Divided (+ I and II). ←↓ helpful for growth...

Grace, Peace, And JOY!… + RICH Blessings

Going to church faithfully, or religiously never got one soul into heaven, it’s by confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, the Christ and believe that God raises him from the dead.


Romans 10:9-10
King James Version
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Welcome!

Hello CliveHQ, Welcome, and glad to have you here with us, it is good to have your fellowship with us, I once had that feeling, and now for certain I have taken His yoke upon myself and really learned of Him following His steps, and keeping His commandments.

I know we must have a personal relationship with Him all the days of our lives.

Love, Walter

It's a great question. Why do I do what I do?

Christianity is primarily about relationship, not religion. In other words, life is to be found in knowing God and not in doing things for God. There is actually a grave danger in basing one's relationship with God on works. Read carefully Matthew 7:21-23. Those there who trusted in their works there were sent away.
DISCLAIMER: I'm not suggesting there should be no works. Ephesians 2:10 clearly associates authentic faith to works. But these works will be born out relationship and in no way considered necessary to salvation or as a means of meriting salvation.

Thank you everyone who replied, your advice and wisdom was very very helpful! I am very blessed to be able to be apart of this chat room 😊

Welcome to CC, dear brother. It's ok to desire and like being clean and holy. The joy of the Lord is our strength.

Nehemiah 8:10
“Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Glad to have you joining the fellowship here at CC and welcome! Lots of great replies and I'd say that if you are doing things to promote yourself in any way, then rethink them. Jesus said to 'Love God and then others as ourselves'. When we help the homeless, pray w/someone, give an encouraging word, serve at Church, it should be out of sincere concern not vanity. God bless you and great question!

I appreciate it! My only issue with that is that I have trouble figuring out if I'm doing things for myself or for God of others. Like if I do something very nice for someone for the glory of God, how do I know I'm not just doing it to make myself feel good?

Those thoughts and feelings aren’t mutually exclusive.

You are SUPPOSED to feel happiness and joy in doing God’s Will.

But just make absolutely certain you don’t confuse the mentality that doing those things in any way gets you to heaven.

It’s the Blood of Christ for remission of sins, acknowledgment of who He is, and that He was raised to life.

That’s what makes you a saved, born again child of God

Welcome and be blessed. .

Thank you! Trust me I do not confuse the two. Again thank you for the advice

"When the heart is right with God, there shall be no doubt."

Have you asked these questions and answered them yourself? I did ask this question to myself before and though I wanted to please God in all I do, I didn't feel genuine about me serving God. I felt like there's a part of me that's pleasing myself. However, there's a deep desire to do it for God's glory alone, but again, I can't help but feel something is amiss. But now I already get past that and I know for sure that all I do is for God's glory because it is he himself that makes me to bear fruit, which I tried to produce on my own before that's why I felt that way.

I want to share you though these verses about what you're experiencing.

Matthew 5:3,6,8 KJV
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [6] Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. [8] Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

It seems to me that you are longing for genuineness too, you want to make sure that you are pleasing God alone and not yourself. If that's the case, then you are very blessed.

Get a strong grip on this ... Jesus does it all

If it lines up up with the bible, you can't go wrong