Following Jesus vs. Practicing Christianity: What Changes?

Editor’s note – Every believer inherits more than Scripture; we inherit assumptions, habits, and blind spots handed down from parents, pastors, and culture long before we ever open the Gospels ourselves. This author asks a fair, uncomfortable question: if we met Jesus today with none of that inheritance, would we recognize Him the same way? BCW is running this piece because that question deserves an honest answer, not a defensive one. Read it slowly, and let it do what good self-examination should – point you back to Christ Himself, not away from Him.

Christianity Didn’t Begin as a Religion to Defend

Before Christianity became a global religion, it was a movement centered on one Person.

Jesus didn’t hand His disciples a systematic theology textbook. He didn’t establish a political party. He didn’t command His followers to build cultural influence. His first invitation was remarkably simple:

Follow me. [Matthew 4:19]

Those two words demanded far more than intellectual agreement.

To follow Jesus meant allowing Him to reshape every part of life, how you treated enemies, how you viewed money, how you used power, how you forgave, how you loved, and ultimately who you became.

That is why the New Testament uses the word “disciple” far more often than “Christian.”

A Christian can become a label. A disciple is a lifelong way of living.

Somewhere along the journey, many of us became comfortable identifying with Jesus without intentionally becoming like Him. There is a difference. And that difference may be one of the greatest spiritual challenges facing the modern Church.

Jesus never asked for admirers. He called disciples.

That sentence is easy to read. It is much harder to live.

When Religion Replaces Relationship

One of the most sobering moments in the Gospels appears in Matthew 7. Jesus says:

Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven... [Matthew 7:21-23]

Notice who He is describing. Not atheists. Not people who rejected Him. But people who believed they were serving Him. They preached. They performed miracles. They did religious works. Yet Jesus says something heartbreaking:

I never knew you. [Matthew 7:23]

The issue was not activity. It was intimacy. That passage should humble every Christian including the one writing this article.

Faith can become busy. Church calendars can become full. Ministries can grow. Knowledge can increase. Meanwhile, our relationship with Christ quietly grows shallow.

It is possible to speak about Jesus every week without listening to Him every day. That possibility should lead us not to fear, but to honest self-examination. Because the gospel has never been about pretending. It has always been about transformation.

The greatest danger isn’t rejecting Jesus. Sometimes it’s assuming we’re following Him when we’ve stopped listening to Him.

Editor’s note – Matthew 7:21-23 unsettles because it isn’t describing indifference toward Jesus – it describes people fully convinced they belonged to Him. Ministry activity, correct doctrine, even spiritual gifts can run for years alongside a heart that has quietly stopped listening. That’s worth an honest inventory, not panic. Ask yourself when you last simply listened to Him instead of talked about Him.

When We Read Jesus Through Culture Instead of Letting Jesus Read Us

No one approaches the Bible with a completely blank mind.

Long before we open the Gospels, we’ve already been shaped by parents, churches, teachers, books, podcasts, national identity, politics, and personal experiences. Those influences are unavoidable. They help us understand the world but they can also become lenses that distort what we see.

That’s why two sincere Christians can read the same passage and walk away with different conclusions.

The question, then, isn’t whether we’re influenced. The question is which voice has the final authority.

Jesus frequently challenged the assumptions people carried with them. The Pharisees knew the Scriptures better than most people alive, yet they often failed to recognize the One those Scriptures pointed to. Speaking to some of the religious leaders, Jesus said:

You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. [John 5:39-40]

They possessed remarkable Biblical knowledge. What they lacked was a heart willing to be changed by the God they claimed to know. Knowledge alone had become an idol. That danger still exists.

A person can memorize verses without becoming more loving. They can defend sound doctrine while neglecting mercy. They can argue passionately for truth while speaking without the gentleness that truth deserves.

The apostle Paul warned about this when he wrote, “Knowledge puffs up while love builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1). The answer isn’t to value doctrine less. It’s to remember that every true doctrine should lead us to love Christ more deeply and love people more faithfully.

The purpose of Biblical truth is not merely to win arguments. It is to shape lives that resemble Jesus.

Jesus Refused to Be Claimed by Any Earthly Agenda

Throughout His ministry, people tried to make Jesus fit their expectations. Some wanted Him to become a political revolutionary who would overthrow Rome. Others expected a king who would restore Israel’s national power. Still others followed Him mainly because they wanted miracles, bread, or healing. Even His own disciples sometimes misunderstood His mission.

When James and John asked for places of honor in His kingdom, Jesus redirected them toward humble service instead (Mark 10:35-45).

When Peter rebuked Jesus for speaking about His coming death, Jesus responded with words that must have stunned him:

You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns. [Matthew 16:23]

Peter loved Jesus. Yet, in that moment, his expectations were shaped more by human hopes than by God’s plan. That should humble us.

If one of Jesus’ closest disciples could misunderstand Him, we should remain open to the possibility that we, too, may need correction. Following Jesus isn’t about asking Him to bless our existing worldview. It’s about allowing Him to transform it.

As Paul urges believers:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. [Romans 12:2]

Transformation begins when we allow Scripture to challenge us – not merely confirm what we already think.

Tradition Is Valuable But It Is Not Infallible

Tradition is one of God’s gifts to the Church.

Through faithful believers across the centuries, the gospel has been preserved, preached, translated, defended, and shared around the world. We owe much to those who came before us.

But every tradition must remain accountable to Christ. Jesus Himself warned against allowing human traditions to overshadow God’s commands. Quoting Isaiah, He told the religious leaders:

These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me... They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules. [Mark 7:6-8]

Notice what Jesus criticized. He didn’t condemn tradition simply because it was old. He condemned traditions that had become more important than obedience to God. That distinction matters.

Not every tradition is wrong. But every tradition should be willing to stand beneath the authority of Christ.

A healthy church asks, “Does this help us follow Jesus more faithfully?” An unhealthy church asks, “How can we protect this simply because we’ve always done it this way?” Those are very different questions.

Tradition is at its best when it points us to Jesus and at its worst when it quietly replaces Him.

Editor’s note – Tradition gets a bad reputation in some corners of the church, but Scripture never treats it that way. The real question was never whether we have traditions – every church does – but whether we’ve let any of them outrank obedience to Christ. That’s a fair test to run on our own church, not just someone else’s. A tradition that no longer points to Jesus has stopped doing its job.

The Mark of a Christian Was Never Meant to Be Winning

If someone who had never heard of Christianity spent a month reading only the four Gospels, what would they conclude matters most to Jesus? Would they say it was a political influence? Religious traditions? Perfect theological arguments? Cultural dominance?

Probably not.

Again and again, they would encounter a man whose life was defined by love, truth, humility, mercy, holiness, and sacrifice.

Jesus certainly taught doctrine. Truth mattered to Him. He confronted error without hesitation. But He never separated truth from love.

Too often, we have. In many corners of modern Christianity, we’re known more for what we oppose than for how we love. We become experts at identifying everyone else’s sins while overlooking the pride, bitterness, envy, and unforgiveness growing quietly in our own hearts.

Jesus warned against exactly this kind of blindness.

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? [Matthew 7:3-5]

His point wasn’t that sin doesn’t matter. It was that repentance begins with us.

Revival has never started with pointing fingers. It begins when God’s people allow Him to search their own hearts.

David prayed,

Search me, O God, and know my heart... See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. [Psalm 139:23-24]

That is the posture of a disciple. Not self-righteousness. Not defensiveness. But humble surrender.

The Christian who spends more time examining their own heart than judging someone else’s usually begins to look more like Jesus.

Love Is Not the Soft Alternative to Truth

Some hear the word love and imagine lowering Biblical standards. Jesus never did that.

When He met the woman caught in adultery, He protected her from condemnation but also called her to leave her life of sin (John 8:1-11). Grace came first. Transformation followed.

He welcomed tax collectors, yet called them to repent. He forgave Peter after his denial, then restored him to service. He ate with sinners without becoming shaped by sin. His love was never approval of everything people did. It was an invitation into a new way of living.

That balance is difficult. It always has been. Truth without love becomes harsh. Love without truth becomes hollow. Jesus held both together perfectly. As John writes, He came “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). The Church is most faithful to Christ when it refuses to sacrifice either.

Editor’s note – The woman caught in adultery gets both truth and grace from Jesus in the same breath: “Neither do I condemn you… go, and sin no more” (John 8:11). Notice the order – grace reaches her before the correction ever does. Get that order backward and you either excuse sin or crush the sinner; get it right and you start to look like Jesus. That order is worth remembering the next time correcting someone feels more urgent than loving them.

The Cross Redefines Greatness

The world admires power. Jesus admired service. The world celebrates those who climb higher. Jesus knelt to wash feet.

On the night before His crucifixion, knowing He was Lord of all, Jesus performed the task usually reserved for the lowest servant. Then He said,

I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. [John 13:15]

That scene overturns nearly every human definition of greatness. Greatness is not measured by influence. Or platform. Or applause. It is measured by love expressed through humble service.

The cross itself is proof. Rome saw it as weakness. God revealed it as victory. The kingdom of God advances not through dominion but through sacrificial love. That was profoundly countercultural. And it still is.

The cross is where God’s power looks weakest – and where His love is seen most clearly.

Editor’s note – Philippians 2 makes the same move this author is making here: Christ “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7). Every generation is tempted to measure ministry by platform and reach instead of by whether it looks like a towel and a basin. That reversal isn’t incidental to the gospel – it is the gospel. Whatever we call greatness in our own churches should be tested against that basin.

What If We Measured Success the Way Jesus Did?

Imagine evaluating a church not by attendance, but by compassion. Not by the size of its building, but by the depth of its discipleship. Not by how many people admire its pastor, but by how faithfully its members resemble Christ.

Those aren’t the metrics our culture celebrates. But they are much closer to the questions Jesus asked. He never told His followers to become famous. He told them to become faithful.

Faithfulness often goes unnoticed by the world. A mother quietly praying for her children. A believer forgiving someone who never apologized. A young Christian choosing integrity over promotion. A church serving people who can offer nothing in return.

These acts rarely make headlines. Yet Heaven sees every one of them. Because God’s kingdom measures success differently.

The Church is strongest when it looks least like the world and most like Christ.

Returning to the Person We Almost Lost

If you’ve read this far, you may be wondering: So what do we do now?

Not everyone who reads this article will agree with every point. That’s okay. The goal was never to win an argument. The goal was to invite a question that every Christian, including the author, must keep asking:

Does my life look more like Jesus today than it did yesterday?

That’s a harder question than asking whether we belong to the right denomination, attend the right church, or hold the right opinions. Because Jesus didn’t simply invite people to believe certain truths about Him. He invited them to walk with Him.

Start with the Gospels Again

If your picture of Christianity has become blurry, don’t begin with another debate. Begin with Jesus.

Read Matthew. Then Mark. Then Luke. Then John. Read slowly.

Pay attention to the people Jesus notices. Notice who He welcomes. Notice who He confronts. Notice what makes Him weep. Notice what makes Him angry. Notice what He repeats.

One prayer can change the way you read:

“Lord, if I’ve misunderstood You, give me the humility to be corrected by Your Word.”

That is not a dangerous prayer. It is a faithful one.

The Holy Spirit does not lead us away from Christ. He leads us deeper into Him.

The Church Still Matters

Some readers may assume this article is criticizing the Church itself. It isn’t.

Jesus loves His Church. He gave Himself for her (Ephesians 5:25).

The New Testament consistently calls believers to gather together, encourage one another, worship together, and serve together (Hebrews 10:24-25).

The answer to unhealthy Christianity is not abandoning the Church. It’s helping the Church become more like Christ.

Every congregation has flaws because every congregation is made up of people still being transformed by God’s grace. That includes me. That includes you.

The call is not to perfection. The call is to faithfulness.

The Christianity the World Is Waiting to See

The world has seen enough Christians who are loud but not loving. Enough who know Scripture but refuse to forgive. Enough who defend truth while forgetting mercy.

Imagine instead, a generation of believers known for something different. People who speak the truth without arrogance. People who hold deep convictions with genuine humility. People who serve before they seek recognition. People who forgive because they have been forgiven. People whose lives make others curious about Jesus – not because they are perfect, but because they are becoming more like Him.

That kind of Christianity is difficult to dismiss. Not because it wins every debate. But because it reflects the One who changed history.

One Final Question

When Jesus called His first disciples, He didn’t hand them a checklist. He simply said:

Follow me. [Matthew 4:19]

More than two thousand years later, that invitation hasn’t changed. The challenge is not merely to call ourselves Christians. The challenge is to keep following Christ.

Every day. Every decision. Every relationship. Every act of mercy. Every moment of repentance. Every opportunity to love.

Because in the end, Christianity is not ultimately about preserving a label. It is about becoming a person who reflects the character of Jesus.

And perhaps that’s the question worth carrying long after this article is finished: If someone met Jesus only through the way I live, would they recognize the Jesus of the Gospels?

That question cannot be answered by a creed. Or a church membership. Or a social media profile. It can only be answered by a life.

Every generation of Christians faces the same choice. We can inherit a version of the faith without examining it, or we can continually return to Jesus – the One who called fishermen, welcomed sinners, confronted hypocrisy, carried a cross, and rose again. The Church is healthiest when it never outgrows that habit.

Perhaps the most important question isn’t whether the world still believes in Christianity. It’s whether the world can still see Jesus in Christians. And that question begins with each of us.

A Word from the Editor
Jesus put it simply: “Follow me” – not “admire me from a safe theological distance.” Faithfulness was never about winning an argument for Christianity; it’s about whether the way we treat people, spend money, and forgive enemies looks anything like the Man in the Gospels. Paul told the Romans not to be conformed to this age but transformed by a renewed mind, and that’s still the only cure for inherited faith that has never been examined. Ask the Lord to search you the way David did, and trust Him to be honest and gentle with what He finds.

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Editor Comment: You put your finger on the exact danger Jesus warns about in Matthew 7, and it's the quiet loss of intimacy underneath busy religious activity. Ending on a single question instead of a tidy conclusion gives readers something to reflect on.

This article appeared on Medium and is reprinted with modifications and by permission.