What does a Christian life look like? Certainly, many of us have encountered that thought at some point in our lives. There's also no doubt that our many self-generated answers have been adulterated with hand picked half-truths that uphold a law of perfection, while suggesting a reliance on our will to put us in good graces with the Almighty. Even if you've never had your own personal wonder about the Christian life, the chances that you've been delivered the same law-baring message mentioned above, from a well-meaning pulpit, are extremely high. Don't be mislead. This is not a new problem. But thanks be to Jesus Christ, there is a solution!
Humanity's greatest problem has always been the fancied concept that they could do life on their own. In fact, that has been the ripple effect of the original sin committed in the Garden of Eden, which was passed through the blood to each and everyone of us. Think about it for just a moment. When God created man and woman to fulfill His purpose on Earth, He did not burden them with a long list of rules. On the contrary, God simply laid out one command: depend on me for guidance. The disobedience of eating the forbidden fruit wasn’t simply that they did what they were told not to but was actually the essence of them leaving a dependence on God for guidance and entering a dependence on themselves for guidance.
You may be asking, “Why is this so important?”. The answer is because even though the manifestations of this sin may stretch miles in many different directions, they all derive from one common place: the idea that we can live a life independent of God’s guidance. So how does this connect to living a Christian life? Unfortunately, many people misunderstand the purpose of Christ. It has been a common thread for humanity to embark on a journey of living righteous simply because they were handed the rules without ever considering the proposition that maybe they didn't have what it took to live a righteous life. Just because someone knows what is righteous doesn't make them righteous.
This was and still is the great deception that many religious leaders have fallen victim to, including those who follow them, apart from Christ. Understand that Christ was sent to Earth because there was no one righteous, not even one! Absolutely one of the objects of His purpose was to take away the sins of the world, but this was for making the much bigger purpose possible. Christ came to give you His life; the only righteous life there ever will be! When we reach an absolute bankruptcy in our own lives where we finally realize that we can't live independent of God anymore, then we experience the death of Christ. That is how one dies to sin – the original sin. But Christ wasn’t left in the grave and neither are we. We're given a new life and that life is the life of Christ. Placing our dependence on Christ’s life within us is how we are alive to God.
So what does a Christian life look like? It looks a lot like someone who has laid aside their self-formed way of life for the journey of allowing Christ to live His life through them, better known as sanctification. Sanctification is the process of being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit. This process begins immediately after regeneration and continues throughout a Christian’s life. Don't miss the most important part of that statement: the Holy Spirit does the work. Talk about grace! The work that the Holy Spirit accomplishes in our lives usually looks a lot like us embracing the faultiness of our flesh while seeking something different and the result is a maturity of our spirit. That can sometimes feel like suffering in our lives, but that crushing produces an oil in our lives that is the essence of the Fruit of the Spirit. More and more we begin to feel Jesus’ presence in our lives and others begin to see it. This is what makes us like the salt of the Earth; that which makes people thirst. But it only can happen when Christ is living His life through you. So embrace the grace of God that's found in His righteous and holy Son, Jesus Christ!
Would you like someone to help you understand what the christian life is all about? At Crossway we love walking with people on their journey. Give us a call at 864-224-5557 or click on the counseling button below. We’d love to hear from you!