Christianity is a practical religion. Many Christians are not practicing what they preach. We are settling for a watered-down type of Christianity that appeals to our emotions rather than fulfilling the Mission of Jesus Christ. James outlines what it means to practice pure and defiled religion (James 1: 27). Jesus, throughout His ministry, placed much emphasis on practical things; He spoke even more about having faith. He had several confrontations with the Pharisees and scribes because they stuck to the letter of the Law but had little concern for the welfare of their fellowman. There is nothing more hypocritical than a Christian professing to follow Christ, yet refusing to do the things that Christ would do.

Too many Christians boast of how much they are grown in their faith. How they are learning to depend on God and the beautiful ways that He has rewarded their faithfulness. Yet their lives contradict the things they claim. Christians speak of how much they desire to have a closer relationship with God and how they want to please Him with their lives. Still, practical application is woefully lacking in their utterances. Something is wrong when we can easily apply all the verses of faith-building but neglect the ones on obedience and good works. Our dear brother James puts it into perspective when he says faith without works to back it up is futile (James 2: 14-26).

More and more people are viewing Christians with suspicion because of the Jesus of the gospels living through us. The church is slowly becoming a social club where the popular and those who have something to prove come to play. We see weekly fashion show competitions, testimony parties, and highest praise showdowns more than what would Jesus do living among Christians. The unsaved are looking on and wondering if these people really following the Jesus of the bible? Something has to be wrong when the Christian’s actions cannot match the words and actions of Jesus Christ.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or whatever social media platform is, our preference are great places to speak of our faith in God. But if we do not actively do our faith, we are nothing more than a sound brass or clanging cymbal (1Corinthians 13: 1). Many Christians have somehow forgotten that Christianity is about what we do rather than what we say. We can say all the right things, posting on walls, sending tweets, and posing for Instagram. Still, people will see through the smokescreen if we do not practice the truth we profess to believe.

Jesus showed much contempt towards the Pharisees because of their propensity for looking good on the outside. As long as they looked good in the eyes of the world, there was little obligation to anything else (Matthew 23: 27). This sounds a lot like the brand of Christianity some Christians practice today. We are happy maintaining a form of godliness that appeases the world for the moment (2Timothy 3: 5) yet refrain from going down into the gutters to actively live out our faith in service. We ought to understand that the sinners we seek to save can see the contradiction in our lives. They are not fascinated by how much we say we love God; they are more impressed by how much we will do for Him by actively serving humanity.

Most times, we meet Jesus in the scriptures, He is doing something. Even when He engages people in conversation, they are reaching out to Him to do something for them. The great lesson here is that we should be involved in doing much more than we say. Sometimes it appears being Christian boils down to a talk-shop experience where we proclaim our love and adoration for God, but our words are absent of deeds. Practical Christianity demands that our actions must speak much louder than our words. The next time you think you are a good Christian, ask yourself this question, am I actively doing the tinks that Jesus would do?

We claim to have a great relationship with God, but it cannot translate into the lives we live. We are pious saints on Sundays and every other day of the week, the devil’s agents. Suppose this is the extent of our fellowship. In that case, it should not be surprising that Christianity is unappealing to the sinner we work so tirelessly to save. It’s high time we take a long hard look at ourselves to see if we practice what we preach. Being a Christian means involvement in active service. In doing that, we become mature, willing to do more of the things that please God. The world continues to view us with expectations, and we can’t be satisfied sitting on the fence. There is no better opportunity to be a practicing Christian than this present time.