I figured that out of all the topics in the previous post that this one should probably be the first one posted. The concept of living as a Christian and 'walking the walk' is a topic that can be rather elusive in some churches. Throughout my life, I have come across a wide variety of opinions on this matter just from the churches I have attended. I have found that many churches believe that salvation is the final step in the journey, and once you 'get in' you no longer have to worry about anything spiritual again. These churches tend to promote evangelism above all else and do little to nothing for the betterment of the body. Sermons at these churches can either be of the hellfire and brimstone variety, or lots of shallow 'feel good' messages one would almost associate with the hippy movement. I regularly attended a church that followed this philosophy a while back, while it was good at bringing people in, the environment stagnated after a year. When I asked one of the elders if this was all there was to the Christian walk, I got the reply, "Yes, isn't it great?" In fairness, it has been 11 years since I attended that church, so whether or not it still carries that attitude is unknown to me. I did have the honor of becoming a Christian while attending that church, but I really did not grow much as a Christian afterward.
Another group of churches that I have come across are ones that promote growth as a Christian, but tend to fall short with specifics. The so-called 'Mega Churches' can be bad at this due in part to the sheer number of members. I also attended a church like this. At first I was excited when I realized that salvation is actually the first step in a spiritual journey that would last the rest of my life and into eternity. I started to become closer to God as I discovered the joy of pursuing a relationship with Him. The charismatic style of worship was a stark contrast to the simple singing I participated in at my previous church, and the wide variety of teachings and ministries kept me busy for the many years I attended. The biggest problem I came across was when it came time to put these things into practice, I failed miserably and I felt very guilty about it. The church was not helpful in this aspect either, as there was an implied expectation of perfection throughout the church, and the members seemed to be putting up false personas in this regard. When a major dispute caused all but one of the elders of the church to resign, the church no longer felt like home, but a political arena and I believe that most of those people who were pretending that everything was okay could not handle the exposure, resulting in half of the members leaving. This was what made me realize what was happening in that church for the previous 8 years.
Yet another group of churches I have seen tends to ignore the concept of salvation altogether and believes that no one will be condemned because a loving God would not send those he loves to hell. I will simply reply to this concept by stating one of the more basic beliefs in Christianity. While God did create man for relationship and loves all men fully, the fall of man in the Garden changed the situation a bit. Assuming that sin is defined as a characteristic or behavior contrary to the nature of God, (i.e. lying is a sin because God cannot lie) it soon becomes apparent that God cannot peacefully coexist with sin. In this way, there was no alternative but for the fallen man to be separated from God at the time of death. Yet in His infinite wisdom, God found a way to have the penalty of sin paid for so that man could have relationship with God again through Jesus. This is the pivotal event in the Bible, the turning point in the spiritual history of man, and the basis of the Christian faith.
So, to start bringing all this together, what does the Christian walk look like from a realistic point of view? If the journey really did end at salvation, I expect that the Bible would have ended after the gospel of John. If the walk was supposed to be perfect all the time, why does the rest of the New Testament after the gospels portray so many imperfect men attempting to follow the example of Christ and failing miserably time after time? The apostle Paul, whom so many Christians seem to regard as a superman of the faith, freely admitted his imperfections and his struggle with doing what God wanted him to do. Sound familiar? Romans 7 spells out that struggle pretty well in Paul's own words. The point is that while Paul did not always follow all the actions perfectly, his heart was always directed towards God and through salvation, he was a Christian not by what he did, but who he was:
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
This is true for all of us as Christians. While the transformation is by no means instant, the truth is when we accepted Christ as lord and savior, we became Christians not through our actions but by the concept of having Christ live in us and becoming part of us. This does not make the 'old things' disappear entirely, while the old man dies at salvation, his corpse still causes problems until we die, placing us in the situation of having to die to our old selves every day and continually choosing to follow Christ as He leads us deeper into relationship with Him. It is out of this relationship that the Christ-like behavior comes, instead of the behavior creating the relationship.
(Quick interjection: The NIV Bible translates a lot of words into forms that convey instant action, not process. E.g. John 8:32 is translated '…set you free' in the NIV instead of '…make you free' in the KJV. The word 'make' is a better translation from the original Greek word used than set.)
So what does this all mean for us today? First, we need to cut ourselves some slack as well as each other. If God doesn't expect us to be perfect, we shouldn't expect it either. This is why grace and forgiveness exist. I know we are called to become like Christ, but I also know that goal cannot be achieved by any of us in our lifetime. God desires relationship over performance and is willing to wait as we stumble our way along. Second, we should encourage each other and pray for each other when we do falter, as well as hold each other accountable. Third, don't be afraid to screw up! If God wanted us to be afraid of failing, the phrase 'fear not' would not appear in the KJV Bible over 100 times! Lastly, do not be discouraged if you don't find yourself following this perfectly.
Rom 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
So there you have it, my thoughts on what realistic Christianity should look like. Until next time…
God Bless
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