Shallow Christianity

Do you remember the moment that you “became a Christian”? I put that in quotes because it has lost its real meaning. What I mean is, do you remember the moment that you gave your life to Jesus in order to follow him? The moment where a person chooses to go from self-focused to Christ-focused is where the change occurs. The problem is that few “Christians” ever make it past the shallowest level of Christianity.

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Churches today are teaching people about God. They teach his names, his attributes, his characteristics, and even stories about what he has done. What is not being taught is how to develop a relationship with God. While he does want us to know about him, what he wants more than anything in the world is to know him. To know his person. To know him intimately.

When you first decided to follow Jesus, you were probably doing it to avoid hell or because you were afraid of death. If your faith and understanding of God never grows deeper than that, you have a problem. In CS Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape writes this of a new Christian to Wormwood: “What he says, even on his knees, about his own sinfulness is all parrot talk. At the bottom, he still believes he has run up a very favorable credit-balance in the Enemy’s ledger by allowing himself to be converted.” The “Enemy” here, because it is written from demon to demon, is referring to God. Lewis points out the reality of the early life of new Christians. Until a certain point, it is all “parrot talk” no matter how sincere a person comes across to other people. We believe that the good things we do and our choice to follow Jesus, is earning us points. Like we are doing God a favor by fake following him.

This is not where Christ following ends. It is a lifelong process of growth. The more time we spend with God, in conversation and in community with believers, the closer to him we will grow. The more we will know God, rather than know things about him. Just a few pages later, Screwtape writes: “You will be helped by the fact that the humans themselves do not desire it [God’s presence] as much as they suppose.” If you don’t know God and don’t have a real relationship with him, then you don’t want it bad enough. You have to want it. You have to truly desire it. And you have to give your life to follow him in humble service. Only then will you break free of the bonds of shallow faith in a God who you don’t really care about.