Christian Decisions

I think a lot about something the poet Maya Angelou said: “I’m always amazed when people walk up to me and say, ‘I’m a Christian.’ I think, ‘Already? You already got it?’ I’m working at it, which means that I try to be as kind and fair and generous and respectful and courteous to every human being."

I guess I’d put it like this: “I am a Christian and I’m becoming a Christian.” Being Christian is my identity, but it’s also something I’m growing into. Hopefully, I’m always growing into being a better version of my Christian self.

Taking Jesus seriously is a basic part of being a Christian. I don’t understand how one can be a follower of Christ without taking seriously what Jesus said and did.

By “taking seriously” I mean more than knowing what Jesus did and said, although that’s the starting point. I mean trying to understand what it means to follow the Jesus who did and said what he did and said. I mean applying his life and teachings to my real life in this real world.

When I’m trying to figure out how I should respond to something or someone, what my position should be on an issue, or how I should behave in a situation, I start with Jesus.

What did Jesus do? What did Jesus say? That’s the base line from which I work. My main approach to learning these things is reading and studying the four New Testament Gospels.

Coming to grips with what Jesus did and said isn’t easy. So much of his guidance goes against the grain of what our culture accepts and even, all too often, of what churches and professed Christians practice.

I thought about writing a book called Things I Wish Jesus Hadn’t Said. Then I realized that the people who remembered, taught, wrote, compiled, and edited the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John beat me to it.

Some of you are saying, “What are you talking about?” I’d suggest you go read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7). Read it slowly. Think about it. Now ask yourself how many Christians and churches really live like that. If you’re a Christian, ask yourself if you really live like that.

I’m sure you’ll answer honestly, so now ask yourself why not.

But as followers of Jesus, we must—we must—ask God, by God’s grace, through God’s Spirit, and by our best efforts, to us help think, feel, talk, and act in Jesus’ way.

That’s what I try to do. I fail, to be sure. Stuff gets in the way. People get in the way. I get in the way. But I keep trying. We should all keep trying.

As I’m trying to understand, accept, and follow Jesus’ ways, I’m also dealing with the real world.

So in any given situation, I try to consider circumstances, history, nuances, variables, contingencies, and so on. I also try to remember that for everything I know, there are roughly ten thousand things (a conservative estimate) I don’t know. I try to remember that, while I understand myself to some degree, I can understand someone else pretty much not at all.

In other words, I try to stay humble. When I pay attention to myself, it’s really not that hard.

So I start with Jesus, who is Lord of my life. I then take what I know of Jesus with me into the real world where I deal with real people, real problems, real issues, and real complications.

And then I come back to Jesus.

I ask—I implore—I beg Jesus to help me deal with people, problems, and issues as he would have me deal with them.

Then I do the best I can.

And next time, I try to do better.

I spend a lot of time wondering, repenting, failing, and trying again. I spend a lot of time going back to Jesus.

To sum up what I’m trying to say about how I try to live as a Christian (and please keep in mind that I haven’t tried to cover the entire Christian life, but rather just the decision-making part): given what I can know about what Jesus said and did (and remembering that I will always need to know more), and given what I can know about what’s going on in real life in the real world and why it’s going on (and remembering that I will always need to know more), what can I conclude about how Jesus would have me think, about what Jesus would have me say, and about what Jesus would have me do (remembering that I will always need to know more)?

Then, by the grace and Spirit of God, I think, say, and do what I think Jesus would have me think, say, and do.

As long as I am here, the process will never end.