YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN

I’m a little long winded sometimes (read: always). So I’m not sure when this post will end. If it gets too long prepare for part 2.

This post is in response to a previous question I asked... “Does being a Christian make you a better person?”

My quick answer: YES and NO. (You may stop reading now or carry on).

I grew up in the South and I started going to church at a very Southern Baptist church. I’ve been a part of several churches and believe it or not even within the “Baptist” branch of Christianity there are varying views of morality. However, for this post I will focus on (pick on) only one mindset and understanding of morality. Goodness.

I’ve heard countless times from the pulpit things like, “Christ will help you behave” and “God will make your life better” and “Come to Jesus and He will make you a better person, husband, father, employee” and all that. Often I’ve battled these sentiments internally. Often I’ve believed them and many times perpetuated something similar. I’m not bashing any preachers here. I’m just shining some light on what I think is a small pervasive problem with many people’s theology regarding their own morality.

Christians for some reason or another really want to be “good” people. Why is that? Do we think that by being “good” we will make God more famous? Will our lives be more of a testimony to Christ’s redeeming work in us? Will our neighbors be more intrigued and interested in coming to our churches by observing our “good” behavior? This is why we love the testimonies which start with sex, beer, and meth and end with families, grape juice, and scripture memory. (Oh if I only had one of those testimonies...)

So I’ll admit this early on here... “I don’t know.” But what I do know is that I’ve had an unhealthy and malnourished understanding about anything relating to my “goodness” and what my Christianity “gets” me.

Let’s play a scenario here. Let’s assume there are two similar men. One is named Gary and the other is named Larry. Gary comes from a troubled past with abuse, neglect, drug use, alcoholism, emotional instability, self-doubt, and an all-around cruddy life. Larry on the other hand is just a good guy. He’s a hard worker and his friends love him. He’s the first to buy the drinks on Friday night and the last to spread rumors about you. Oh, I should add that Gary (the first guy) is a Christian and Larry (the second guy) is not.

Now, let’s say you meet them both for the first time on the same day. You meet Gary and see how he lives his life. You see a nice guy who handles life well and respects others. He loves his wife, plays with his kids, and stays late after work to excel at his job. Then you meet Larry. Larry handles life well, respects others, loves his wife, plays with his kids, and stays late after work to excel at his job. Practically the same guys right? Or so you think. Let’s assume you do not know the history of each individual. You have no clue what Gary has been through and how coming to Jesus Christ has drastically changed his life. You should have seen him 5 years ago.

If you met these two guys at the same time, and then you found out that Gary was a Christian and Larry was not, you would have to conclude that being a Christian really has no effect. It doesn’t make you any different from anybody else. Gary and Larry act the same. They do the same things, they are just as polite, caring, and patriotic as the next guy.

Tim Keller (responding to a similar scenario) states that “unless you know the starting points and life journeys of each person you could easily conclude that Christianity isn’t worth much and that Christians are inconsistent with their own standards.”(1)

C.S. Lewis compares this dichotomy of goodness to being sick with an illness while still feeling better. For Lewis, coming to Christ should make you a “better” person in that you should not continue to be a snobbish, spiteful, envious, or ambitious person. In that regard you have become “better.” Lewis also states that being religious is mainly useless unless it does make you “better.” For this reason the world is correct to judge our actions. The world should be able to see our fruit. “When Christians behave badly... we are making Christianity unbelievable to the outside world.” (2)

Yet Lewis says there is a flip side of the coin as well. The world is incorrect to assume that Christians (at any given moment) should always be obviously nicer, more tolerant, and more generous than those who do not believe in Jesus (see Lewis’ chapter in Mere Christianity called “Nice People Or New Men.”

Glenn Packiam says it even more clearly when he writes “the good news of the gospel is not that we simply behave better; the good news of the gospel is twofold: that we have been forgiven, and that our hearts have been made alive to God!”(3)

For this I can not help but think about the Woman at the Well seen in The Gospel of John chapter 4 (mainly verses 1-26). Most of you reading this post will be familiar with the story so I’ll skip all the formalities.

Notice Jesus offered her “living” water.

I’ve heard this woman called “The Bad Samaritan” from the pulpit and while living a life of sexual immorality and I’m sure adultery probably qualifies you for the moniker of “bad” this title misses the point of the encounter. Had Jesus been primarily interested in her badness then he would have offered her “good” water. Yet he did not. He offered her “living” water? Why? Because forget the badness... she was DEAD! She was spiritually dead. She stood in current condemnation against a holy God. Good water would not have been enough. Really, really, great, holy, spiritual, and purified church water would not cut it, she needed something more.

When we focus on people’s badness we miss the bigger story... their deadness.

To be Continued...



1 Tim Keller, The Reason for God (New York: Dutton/Penguin Group, 2008).
2 C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 1980).
3 Glenn Packiam, Secondhand Jesus (Ontario: David C. Cook, 2009).