DO CHRISTIANS HAVE AN IMAGE PROBLEM?

“What are Christians known for? Outsiders think our moralizing, our condemnations, and our attempts to draw boundaries around everything. Even if these standards are accurate and biblical, they seem to be all we have to offer. And our lives are a poor advertisement for the standards. We have set the game board to register lifestyle points; then we are surprised to be trapped by our mistakes.”― David Kinnaman, unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity… and Why It Matters.

UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity…And Why It Matters was written in 2012. Christians are supposed to represent Christ to the world, but according to the research in this book, something has gone terribly wrong. When asked about their impressions of Christianity, people used descriptions like “self-righteous, “hypocritical,” “insensitive,” and “judgmental.”

It would seem Christianity has an image problem when those on the outside looking in think of Christians primarily negatively and with language that suggests Christians fail to live up to who they claim to be and fail to practice the way of Jesus.

While people tend to hold Christians to a higher standard than they hold themselves, Christianity has an image problem because of Christians. To our credit, we strive to please God and walk in His will, striving every day to be the best that we can be. While that is a worthwhile goal, putting it into practice is another matter. We strive to improve ourselves by trying harder not to sin, engaging in more ministry work, and modeling the behavior of a good Christian. That only results in a heavy burden we have a hard time carrying. That’s when the Lord comes in.

Jesus wants to live out His life through us, and the best version of ourselves is not nearly as good as Jesus in us. The difference is in you trying to improve yourself from the outside to change what’s on the inside instead of allowing Jesus to change your thinking and character from the inside out. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says: “So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.”

As you begin to incorporate this into the standard parts of your day, God will change your thinking and refine your character to match the identity of Christ within you. You will naturally start to see changes in your behavior without having to push yourself to act out the Christian life on your own. And that’s when the image of Christianity is viewed in a completely different light.

God is constantly revealing the ways each of us has fallen short of being Christian, the ways we’ve strayed from the path, and the ways we’ve missed the heart of what it means to be a living expression of the gospel. And again, if it’s becoming harder to be a Christian in America, that means there are more opportunities to be like Christ in a skeptical and challenging culture.

Discussion Questions:

1. How can we be more intentional in reflecting God’s love and compassion to others?
2. How can we be more mindful of our impact on others and strive to be a positive reflection of God’s character?
3. How can we better understand and embrace the concept of our unique roles in reflecting God’s image in different contexts?