Being a christian today is kind of confusing to those looking in from the outside. That’s something that I’ve come to realize… I’m a graduate of one of the most amazing Colleges in the world, Columbia College Chicago. Its an arts school, and while studying there, I learned and uncovered a lot... One thing is this foggy definition that some people have of being "Christian".
I’ll never forget walking to the train from class one night with a buddy. Somehow we got on the topic of religion. I probably brought it up... at the time, I was fresh in being serious about Christ and brought Jesus up as much as I could. But what we would begin to talk about kind of confused me. When I asked this person if they were a Christian they said no… When I asked if they believed in Jesus, they said yes. Blew me away! How does that even work?! How do you believe in Jesus, but not identify as christian? What they said next rocked my newly saved world! “I mean, I believe in Jesus. I believe that he died for us or whatever… but I just don't do all the things that Christians do. I don’t go to church...haven't been in a while. Sometimes I cuss, I drink, and I do other stuff.... But I pray from time to time. And yeah… I believe.” Wow… He brought up boring lifestyles, the way “church people” dressed, the things that “church people” say, etc. He made some compelling arguments as to why he just didn't feel the need to identify with Christianity… yet he still believed in Christ.
As we continued to walk, topics shifted… but not my spirit. I had never heard anything like that before. A believer who isn't a Christian. I mean If he wasn’t a Christian, then what the heck was he?! The answer: A Believer… on his way to being a true follower of Christ. Later that week, I had to let him know that he was at least on the right path. The Bible says “If you openly declare that jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” I told him that he was doing something right.. just not everything. I mean, hey “All have sinned and fallen short”, right?! I, also, used this as an opportunity for me to do some self exploring... the truth behind this that I’d uncovered was that this guy, as imperfect as his life may have been and as bad as some of his choices may have been, he was probably more heaven bound than most of the people who attend church regularly.
Why?! When he told me that he believed… it had a genuineness that I’d rarely encountered. I could tell that he really did believe that Jesus was Lord… I could tell that there was something there that was more than just words... there was true belief. When asking that same question to others who’d been churching it up for years, the answers sounded more rehearsed than real. This scares me.. This isn’t true for all… but there have been some people that I have encounter who don’t even believe that God has the power to heal or deliver… so we can ultimately forget about true salvation. These would be considered “Church People” with regular attendance on Sunday mornings… more because it is apart of a routine rather than a chance to worship with likeminded believers.
My concern with today’s church is that we have adopted more of the church culture than Christ’s culture. We have shouting, hollering, the “look” of worship, stadium style sanctuaries, state of the art kitchens, classrooms, contemporary color schemes… we have it all. Yet,we lack the essence of what the sinners need- Christ. I’m not here to act like I’m perfect, but I am here to say that we can all stand to evaluate ourselves a little better.
How often doo we openly criticize and embarrass people in churches for not shouting when others are? Or for not worshipping exactly like we do? How often do we do the same when people don’t follow our agenda for the church or even dress like us for the church?
Don’t get me wrong, there are limits to everything. I honestly believe that a person who’s had a true encounter with Christ will change things to become a better person. But, how often do we even give a fighting chance?
I'm not trying to present some type of deep theological argument on this guy or what he said… As a matter of fact, it was said my sophomore year of college, almost 6 years ago. The point I’m bringing up is that we have adopted what church looks like more than we have adopted what Christ looks like. The way we dress, talk, shout, worship, speak in tongues, the way our churches look… everything is influenced by what we have seen from others. But i want to ask everyone reading this to PLEASE spend some time with God and see how HE wants you to do it... “It” being this whole Christian living thing. We are the body of Christ. We are his representation in a world that seeks to wipe him clean out of our society. We need to look like christ! Act like christ. Talk like Christ! Adopt Christ’s life! Adopt Christ’s Culture!