I sat listening to another story recently of a Christian who missed the point. When I say “missed the point”, I don’t mean by a little or somehow failed to do what they needed to do, but I mean to say that they missed the point of their whole Christian life.
What are we moving toward in following Christ? The point of our adventure of following Jesus Christ is not any of the following:
- Learning about, reading, and memorizing scripture
- Learning about the end times
- Praying longer and harder than others
- Defending any political point of view with scripture
- Worship experiences
- Experiences in and manifestations of the Holy Spirit
- Serving the local church
- Giving money to the church
- Fasting
All the above are good, even great, things! I want to do all of them, but I want to clarify this, as it is something that I find many Christians can miss while attending just about any kind of church in the 21st century. If, in the course of your faith experience as a Christian, you do not become more of the following, you are likely not following Christ at all:
- Loving
- Giving
- Sacrificial
- Less self-centered
- Prioritize your family and marriage
- Less materialistic
- More attentive
- Patient
- Hopeful
- Generous
- Humble
- Many other character markers of Christ
Some people, even after attending a church where the Bible is taught and people are regularly challenged to live out their faith, can miss the objective of following Christ: experiencing profound personal transformation into a person who more resembles the character of Christ and thereby glorifies God in the world.
I’m praying today that God will help me follow Christ in a way that brings change in me, and that I will lead the church in such a way that lives experience radical transformation into Christ-likeness.