Gospel Mindfulness

True Christianity is spiritually comforting, but it is also supremely practical. True Christianity informs the lives of young and old, parents and children, employers and employees.

"I'm spiritual, not religious." This increasingly common statement has a vagueness to it. What does it mean to be spiritual? Often spirituality is meant to comfort us, but rarely does it make demands on us. True Christianity is different: it is supremely practical, affecting not just our "spirituality," but also the stuff of life such as marriage, parenting, and work.

Is living morally just a matter of "fake it until you make it?" Not if you are united with Christ! If you have placed your faith in Christ, who you are is fundamentally different. You, in Christ, are merciful, gentle, honest, and loving. All of life is learning to "put on Christ" and become who you already are.

You've received more than you can possibly imagine if you are united with Christ. And one of the great tragedies is that many who are in Christ are not taking hold of the life they now have in Jesus. You are called to be proactive in our Christian growth, not in order to work our way up to God, but because that is now what you are: you are you with Jesus.

Christian growth means becoming who we are in Christ. That involves changing direction, learning to put behind us the way we used to be—to lose our old habits, which are no longer true to our identity.

When you become a Christian, you experience an inexpressibly significant shift in who you are. Christian growth means learning how to be true to your new self.

One of the great dangers Christians face is to fall back into religiosity. We forget what it means that our new identity is "me with Jesus," and seek to move toward God entirely apart from Christ. We do "good things" for the wrong reasons, to our deep spiritual harm.

Is Christianity a religion? Not if by religion we mean a system of rituals and behaviors that enable us to get close to God. Using that definition, Christianity is the anti-religion.

How do we grow? By daily choosing to receive the gift that we have in Jesus, by seeking more of Jesus. Colossians gives us 3 metaphors for this pursuit: walking in Christ, being rooted in Jesus, and being built up in Jesus.

Passage: Colossians 2:6-10

Colossians warns us of a danger we rarely notice. "Philosophies"--ways of thinking--threaten to take us captive. Whether it's "Follow Your Bliss" or modern secularism, or another mindset altogether, these human ways of understanding ourselves and this world can ruin us, because they can pull us away from Christ. When we feel unsettled or incomplete, Colossians tells us that our problem is not that we need more THAN Jesus. It's that we need more OF Jesus.

Passage: Colossians 2:6-10