The Truth About Being Christian

I’m not a pastor, I’m a teacher. And to be honest, not a very good one. I only recently discovered that my purpose is to write and teach, and it feels like someone badly out of shape suddenly realizing they’re called to be a bodybuilder. There’s a lot of catching up to do. But that’s not just my story. It’s the story of many of us. When children grow up without adults who model a relationship with Christ, the enemy twists their pain into trauma and robs them of their God-given purpose. Why? Because a purposeless life is useful to both the world and to him. People without purpose eat junk food and then rely on medicine to mask the damage. They scroll late into the night, selling their attention to the highest bidder. And all the while, their true calling lies buried under distraction and brokenness.

But in discovering my purpose and walking with God, I’ve uncovered things as a disciple of Christ that I’ve never once heard anyone talk about, and these understandings changed everything for me.

 

Truth #1 - Christians Are Not Good People

On the contrary, we’re sinners to our core, the worst of the worst, and only the power of God can extend the grace to save us from the consequences of who we are.

Unfortunately, we lose many of our brothers and sisters because of this realization. They mistakenly think we are sinners because we sin, but the truth is we sin because we are sinners. We’re not culpable of sin because of our actions, we’re culpable because sin is ingrained in our being. Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden brought sin into us, and as his descendants, we inherit that broken nature, and that broken nature pushes us to rebel against God. Yes, you can point to specific sinful actions and seek repentance, but Christ calls us to turn our heart away from who we are as sinners, and turn it towards God. Because true good doesn’t come from us, and we can only become new from letting the Holy Spirit work through us.

Yet many struggle to see themselves this way. They misunderstand how sin works, and don’t believe they’ve done anything worthy of being called a sinner. The enemy and the world are exceptionally skilled at convincing us that our anti-God behavior is morally justified. Instead of admitting, “I sinned,” the mind reframes it: “Everyone does it,” “It’s not that bad,” or “God wouldn’t care about this.” We tell ourselves, “I’m not a sinner. I may not be perfect, but I don’t deserve eternal judgment.”

At his core, the devil is a humanist. He wants us to prioritize ourselves over God. Therefore, rather than confronting sin, our society has rebranded it as lifestyle, identity, and even virtue. When popular culture normalizes our behavior, our minds take comfort in believing “I’m fine as I am”, rather  than to admit, “I need saving.”

But the consequences of this denial are evident and escalating. The cognitive dissonance created by refusing to acknowledge our sinful nature causes us to deny our inherent brokenness and we seek fulfillment in ways that only deepen our emptiness. Alcohol, sugar, social media, pornography, drugs, etc. 

Our sinful nature is not our fault, but it is our responsibility. We didn't choose to eat from the tree, but we are the descendants of those who did. The reason so many of us come to Christ is because he allows us to feel, address, and live free from this inherent nature. That’s what grace is. 

 

Truth #2 - Life as a Christian Will Become Harder

Many people come to Christ when they’ve reached a point where they simply can’t anymore. They can’t hold their marriage together, they can’t hold onto their job, they can’t connect with their children, they can’t get over some deep emotional pain, they can’t beat their addictions, etc. They’re at the point of losing themselves when all of a sudden, Christ makes an appearance and alleviates their suffering. He picks them up, dusts them off, and puts them on the right path. 

The nature of this first encounter with Christ misleads many into thinking that being a follower of Christ will lead to an easier life. They believe He’ll alleviate all of their pain and suffering now and forever. But when you accept Christ as your saviour and follow His teachings, you’re immediately moved to the front lines of a fierce spiritual battle, and many are surprised when they start seeing tbullets fly over their head.  

I have a good friend who is an entrepreneur. For the past decade he’s been pouring his blood, sweat and tears into his business and it’s finally starting to get traction. However, he’s sacrificed a lot in that process, including his time with God. As a result, he’s been overwhelmed with high-stakes decisions and is constantly filled with the anxiety that comes from relying on your own strength versus God’s. So after a few weeks of missing church, he finally woke his wife and three kids up early one Sunday, made breakfast, and got into his car to take them to church.  When he turned the jey in the ignition…nothing. The battery was dead, and almost immediately it began to torrentially downpour like it only can in Florida. So he got out, moved their second car out of the driveway. Got back into the dead car, put it into neutral, and pushed it out onto the street. He then pulled the second car around to the side of the dead car, pulled out the jumper cables, connected the two cars and jump started the dead car, all while being soaked to the core in his Sunday best. Then he went inside, changed his clothes, got back in the car, and went to church. The message the pastors delivered appeared to be divinely tailored to everything my friend needed to hear at that moment in his life, but the enemy didn’t want him to hear that message. 

I provide this anecdote as an example. There are forces that will do everything in their power to dissuade, attack, and scare you away from pursuing God. This is why things often get harder when you first become a Christian; you’re forced to confront the life that you built without, or in spite, of God’s input. Maybe you lose your job, your home, or all of your friends. But like renovating a home, all the old, toxic, and useless must go before you can build the dream. 

As I’ve walked my path with Christ over the last couple of years, I’ve come to recognize this kind of hardship…and it invigorates me. What better affirmation is there for your actions than the enemy trying to stop you from doing something?

 

Truth #3 - We Believe Through Experience

Most of us didn’t come to Christ through objective reasoning. Nor did we encounter Him by losing an argument to a well-debating Christian, or through an extensive research project into the evidentiary proof of his resurrection.  

We came because we encountered Him. His presence, at some point, came onto us and overwhelmed us into fully comprehending who He is and what he’s done for us. Since that moment, we seek Him above all else. 

I spent the first 34 years of my life being hypercritical and disparaging towards Christians. I believed, with full conviction, that if you were Christian it was because you were dumb, brainwashed, and using Christianity to fulfill a desperate need for belonging. I would have characterized your stupidity as so extreme as to make you unqualified for the most basic of human responsibilities.  

Then my wife and I met two friends. Good people who we liked to be around. They never directly told us that they went to church, but mentioned it in passing a couple of times. Spending time with them softened my heart to the idea, so on Father’s day of 2023 we decided,  “Why not check out what this church thing is all about?”  

There are those who go to church but don’t fully believe yet. They show-up because they like the people and they like the message, but Christ still hasn’t yet become the center of their life. And that’s okay. The day will come where you have an encounter with Christ, and his grace will feel your soul. But this comes through our experience with him, not intellectual justification.