According to recent Barna research in which Christian adults were asked to identify the priorities Christians should pursue in their faith, the most common response was that Christians should prioritize “doing the right thing, being good, not sinning.”
The fact that lifestyle is the most common priority of Christians suggests a related difficulty: the temptation to give a false pretense of holiness. When avoiding sin is the main concern and is not balanced by other important priorities of the faith, it sets up the conditions in which we project a got-it-together image.[1]
Interestingly enough, when observing the lifestyles of most professing Christians, there is little difference between Christians and non-believers. Not only is it intriguing as a Christian to wonder why so many Christians are failing in their self-expressed number one faith priority, but this truth also causes a problem with non-Christian members of society in that they view Christians as hypocrites. When they see us not living up to our own standards, we lose our credibility to share the Gospel.
Building a relationship with God is the foundation to a changed life. Trying to follow a checklist of good Christian living in our own power is a futile effort, just ask the Apostle Paul. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul condemns them for this very thing.
This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? (Gal 3:2-3 NKJV)
Our number one priority as Christians should be to get to know God…getting to know Jesus. God Himself declares this as so when He says through the prophet Jeremiah
“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
Let not the rich man glory in his might,
Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
But let him who glories glory in this,
That he understand and knows Me,
That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these I delight.” … Jeremiah 9:23-24 NKJV
Being a Christian is not about being good, it is about getting to know Jesus. Discipleship—intentionally learning about Christ and God’s Word—needs to be brought back to the forefront of our priorities as Christians. In this, God will delight. Through transforming discipleship, God can help us “get it together”.
What will you do with what you know?
[1] UnChristian, Kinnaman & Lyons, p. 49-50
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