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I recently met a Christian sister who experienced a serious crisis of faith. Though she didn’t walk away from Christ, she considered it. Therefore, as we commemorate Palm Sunday, I want us take a minute for some self-introspection into our actions as Christians.

This Christian sister stopped attending church service and neither prayed nor read her Bible. When I approached her to find out what was happening, she confessed that one of the reasons for her crisis of faith was the gross absence of holiness among those who called themselves Christians. She decried the moral failures, unchecked gossiping, hatred, jealousy, backstabbing, division, and fear amongst many Bible-thumbing, church-passionate people.

While this sister willingly acknowledged her own shortcomings as a Christian, she underwent serious soul searching at the end of which was an epiphany about why Christians don’t always act like Christians.

Before I share these reason with you, I’ll preface it by saying that these are not excuses for unchristian living. If you’re a Christian, strive to live as one. When you confess one thing and act out something different, your actions confuse those around you.

Why Some Christians Don’t Resemble Christ

Inherited Christianity

Christianity seems to be the default religion in this part of Africa unless you are born into a Muslim, animist or other non-Christian family. Many, if not a majority of persons posing as Christians have never experienced the saving power of Jesus Christ. They may attend church and hold leadership positions there. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make them Christian.

According to 1 Corinthians 5:17, anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. That doesn’t mean they are perfect. It means that over time, as they follow God’s word and yield to the Holy Spirit’s molding, their character changes more and more into that of a true follower of Christ. An inherited Christian doesn’t have this “new creation” nature and may have no guilt about living contrary to the teachings of the Bible.

Intentionally False Christians

This is something the Bible says is a reality in Christendom; wolves in sheep’s clothing.

 

A person can pretend to be a Christian or attend church for various reasons. Some see church as a source of income or as a means of achieving elusive personal goals like marriage or pregnancy. They don’t seek God and therefore don’t care about growing in Christ’s likeness. Sadly, the world doesn’t know who is truly born again and who is pretending. All they see is the “Christian” label.

Less Discipleship, More Protocol

This is perhaps the biggest reason amongst some believers who make Christianity more about dogma, rules, and regulations, and less about serving Christ.

Jesus’s model of discipleship shows that a Christian grows just like a seed which flourishes when put in the right growth environment. This means that with solid Bible teachings and loving accountability, a new convert will grow into a mature Christian.

However, when it becomes more about rules and protocol, new Christians cannot grow. This explains why some believers are mean, nasty, and judgmental towards other people. In their view, they are dealing with other people the harsh way they believe God deals with them.

Too Busy to Have Time with God

This is another big cause of the absence of Christian behavior amongst some believers. Regular personal Bible studies and prayer re the ingredients which sustain the spiritual life of a believer. A Christian who prays more tends to gossips less and so on. This logic applies to basically every other sin common among Christians.

Sadly, many put a premium on church activities, and become so busy to the extent that they don’t have time for fellowship with God. They are busy for Him in public, but don’t have time for Him in private. As a result, they lack the power to resist when temptation comes knocking. When a Christian with a good standing in public is suddenly exposed for something like sexual misconduct, many people are shocked, but fail to understand the cause. It is because they got too busy and stopped fellowshipping with God.

This list if by no means exhaustive and I pray these reasons also help a failing Christian to pick up from where they had fallen asleep on the wheel.

Part 2 of this post will talk about how an individual Christian should respond when fellow Christians don’t represent true Christianity.

God bless you,

AkuBai”

 

What have you learned from this write u ?