We can get ourselves off track with all sorts of fantastic imaginations about what “real” Christianity is like. You may have heard some of these:

1. No one is opposed to someone whose life truly reflects Christ.
2. If you live the way God designed Christianity, you will find that many–even most–people around you will become Christians, too.
3. If you live a true Christian life, your life will fall neatly into place, and your circumstances will be providentially blessed.

I’m sure you can add more. I’ve found myself trying to understand what real Christianity might look like, and then wondering if my outlandish ideas about what it means or what it looks like or what are the results of living a true Christian life were moving in the right direction. Christian practice can be pretty far off track in so many areas, so we don’t have a reliable guide based on our experiences or on “how church is done.”

Sometimes in my zeal (especially as a young Christian, but still after 38 years I have to be careful), I accepted some out-of-balance ideas as true, and then I pushed myself, pressing to follow this new ideal perspective until I was exhausted in defeat. It can be a troubling roller coaster of hope and discouragement. That’s one (long and hard) way to find the truth. And, it’s risky, too. You not only damage others, but you might find yourself giving up for a long time.

I’ve found far better ways to separate the myths from reality.

For one, I ask myself, “was this true of Jesus Christ?” He is, after all, the one person who completely, “really, really” lived a real Christian life. The silliness of some of these ideas quickly becomes apparent when we lay them alongside His life for comparison. Since Jesus did live this life, then:

1. All of His enemies came around and respected Him, and many became His friend? *BUZZER* No. They hated Him and rejected Him and sent Him to a cruel death.
2. Many–maybe most–of those who came in contact with Jesus became converted? *BUZZER* Sadly, no. Only a minutely small portion of the population ever received Him.
3. His circumstances were favorable? *BUZZER* No, again. He had nowhere to lay His head. He was rejected by His own. He was hungry for 40 days in the desert (right after the Father said, “This is my beloved Son…”), He had to escape from those who wanted to harm Him many times.

If you’ve ever chased one of these sort of faulty ideals (and you have), then you know how destructive they can be. When confronted by claims about what living the “real” Christian life is like by others (and worse, when imagining these things yourself in your desire to follow Him and please Him), always check to see if this matches up with His life. Real quick clarity!

The same can be said of our ideals about the church. We create these fantastic ideas about what a “true” church would be like, setting up impossible expectations. Take these ideas and lay them alongside the record in the book of Acts and in the epistles that address the first churches. You will quickly come to see the foolishness of many of the idealistic concepts of the church.

Perhaps the hardest area to discern between myth and reality is in the area of our own Christian culture.

We can too easily read into the scriptures what we want to see, confirming and justifying inappropriate (and harmful) lifestyles. So, what should a Christian (and the church) value? What are our ideals? What are our acceptable norms? These are hard to decipher because they will make us uncomfortable.  Are we to suffer? Is seeking position and power prideful? Should the church offer the highest prestige to the wealthy and powerful or to those who give sacrificial service as a lowly servant? Do we equate success in business or politics or sports to spiritual maturity? Is it okay to watch the average TV show today, or do they meet a biblical definition of immoral and lust-inducing pornography?

What myths have occupied your efforts and thinking? How will we “perfect holiness in the fear of God?” As a saint, as a member of His Body, you need to confront these issues in your own life and in the lives of your fellow saints.

We can be assured the reality is better than the fictions (even if messier and less comfortable than we hope).

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 13th, 2010 at 8:30 am by Art and is filed under Culture, Saints. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.