As I was contemplating what to write my eyes came across the title of a volume on my bookshelf: Practical Christianity. The blurb on the book jacket describes it as a resource “containing hundreds of articles from scores of pastors and other Christian leaders” designed to help its readers learn “how to live the Christian life.” Right beside this first book is another volume, entitled The Complete Book of Everyday Christianity. Its subtitle describes the book as “an A-to-Z guide to following Christ in every aspect of life.”
This got me to thinking about the nature of Christianity as something more than just a collection of religious stories or theological ideas. Sadly, there is a tendency to approach the Christian faith merely as the knowledge of and adherence to religious doctrines. Such doctrines may be grounded on biblical truth. But the Bible itself is quite clear that simply knowing these truths and even defending these truths are not all that God intended for the gospel. For Christianity is all about a life that is lived, not just an idea that is acknowledged or defended.
In the writings of John may be found an interesting phrase: “do the truth.” “But whoever lives by [literally, ‘does’] the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God” (John 3.21 NIV). “If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out [literally, ‘do’] the truth” (1 John 1.6 NIV). It is in “practicing the truth” (as the phrase is translated in some translations) that the gospel of truth is fulfilled.
This is not to downplay the importance of the truth of God’s Word. For this truth serves as the foundation on which the Christian life must be built. The point is that there must be a life or lifestyle that is being built on that foundation. Christ himself emphasized, at the end of his “sermon on the mount,” that it is his will that his listeners put into practice what he teaches (Matthew 7.24-27). Similarly, the apostle Paul instructed his readers, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice” (Philippians 4.9 NIV).
This consistent emphasis on the practice of the truth leaves us no doubt that the teachings of Christianity are meant to be actualized in everyday life. The gospel of Jesus Christ has imperative implications for the way we live our lives. Christianity is practical.
—Keith Jainga