What's Important?

I am currently reading a book called UnChristian by David Kinnaman, where he talks about the more common negative perceptions that people have about Christianity like being hypocritical, judgmental, anti-homosexual, out of touch, and so on. He spends a chapter on each view, and I am currently on the chapter about hypocrisy. I wanted to share some of my thoughts, because I think there are some good things to learn from the research done through this book and through the barna group.

The Barna Group conducted a survey where they asked adult Christians (those that are committed to a life of following the teachings of Christ) to list the priorities of the Christian faith. The most popular response had to do with lifestyle such as being good, doing the right thing, not sinning, and the like. Lifestyle was higher on the list than discipleship, learning about the Bible and Christ, evangelism, worship, relationships, serving others, and pretty much everything else.

Christians believe that the main reason people are not followers of Christ is because they cannot handle the rigorous standards of following Christ. Research shows, however, that about a quarter of young people that do not follow Christ are concerned with Christianity limiting their lifestyle. In fact, the main reasons that people say they are not Christian are they never thought about it, they are not interested in spirituality, they are committed to another faith, or they are repelled by Christians.

The crazy thing that Kinnaman discovered is that young people are not overly bothered by Christians being hypocritical as many of us might think. Hypocricy is everywhere, so we have come to expect it in all areas of our lives. Why would Christianity be any different? The problem is not that we are hypocrites, and we are hypocrites. The problem, I think, is that we put too much emphasis on the rules and regulations and the things that we do or don’t do. If people think that Christianity is solely based on being a good person, doesn’t it make sense that there is a sense of disappointment in what they see in the representatives?

Christ is of the utmost importance of Christianity. Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? What about putting the emphasis on our need for Christ in our lives? Kinnaman says, “Our passion for Jesus should result in God-honoring, moral lifestyles, not the other way around.” Our lifestyles are important, but we cannot change ourselves. It is the power of the Holy Spirit at work within us that results in our behavioral changes.