Within the past few weeks, I’ve began to notice a very common trend particularly in my home town. Christianity has actually become fairly popular. However, I am not sure if this is a good thing or not. I have begun to question the validity of these professions of faith and if these new believers in Christ fully understand the gospel.
For the longest time, I personally did what I think many of these people could potentially be doing, I faked Christianity for the sake of making myself look better. Back then, that looked like knowing all the books of the Bible, memorizing numerous scripture verses, participating in many different services within the church, and even knowing multiple evangelism tools to share my faith with others. On the outside I looked like the cliché Christian kid, that everybody knew and loved, but on the inside I knew it was all just an act.
Now I feel like those easily faked attributes of professing your faith look a little different. Now I think it looks more like going to a youth group every week because all of your friends are there, wearing a religious t-shirt, posting a picture of your bible (maybe even with coffee beside it) every time you do your devotionals, lifting up your hands during worship, and even posting numerous scripture verses or Christian song lyrics on social media. I want you to know that you can do all of these things and still not be a Christian.
Christianity is not works based, I am fully aware, but as a Christian you should be producing fruit. In John 15: 8 it states, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” Now, if you aren’t bearing fruit I question if you are even his disciple, but if you are, please self evaluate and make sure that these “fruits” are not just another way to make yourself look better or to be cool. We bear the fruits that we do to bring glory to the Father, not to ourselves. My fruits are for the Lord because I want to make him proud; I want our relationship to be personal, not super shallow. I just really hope that these people are not like how I was before I was a true believer in Christ, more consumed with my reputation, rather than the rest of my eternity.
I want to ask each of you something that are fairly new believers. Will you still follow Jesus even when it is no longer popular? Will you still want to pursue a relationship with him when it seems like all of the relationships around you begin to fail? If the answer to these questions is not a 100% yes, then I can assure you that you are just following the trend and you do not actually have a real relationship with Christ. This breaks my heart because I desire that each of you do, but I would rather you be aware and repent and make things right now than get to heaven and be surprised that this thing you thought was your ticket in wasn’t at all. It was fake, it was a trend, and all trends eventually end.
