And remember the signs of the Christian Church have been the Lion, the Lamb, the Dove, and the Fish…but never the chameleon.” – Kay Munk

The other day’s post was about the Christian who is in fact so Christian that they can only talk to other Christians who lead a similar life. While I admire their faith, I think it is unbiblical when we just start hanging around those who look like us, who think like us, who are like us all the time. My biggest problem is that it can lead to a life where we become more and more judgmental and start carrying around a holier-than-thou attitude; where we lord our knowledge of the Lord over others.

But for me, worse than that, is the Chameleon Christians.
I think one of the biggest sin I can commit as a Christian is to believe that God exists, but live my life completely devoid of God’s presence.

Francis Chan once wrote, “Something is wrong when our lives make sense to non-believers.”
At least with the Too Salty Christians, we know something is different about them.
With the Chameleon Christian, I feel like it’s a “I believe in you God, but I’m going to live my life for me” and Jesus is a condiment sprinkled here and there.

It’s like, we try so hard to be relevant to the world that we end up becoming like the world, and no one knows the difference between the agnostic, the atheist and the Christian.
We want to be the “cool” Christian, but we end up becoming neither.

Sure, you get hammered at bars on a weekly basis, because that’s where the people you want to reach hang out at.
You fight for the legalization of marijuana and get high because you believe that you connect with God and your peers more intimately and because you believe that, since it should be legal, there’s nothing wrong with it; in fact, it’s part of God’s creation!
But really, who’s changing who?
Who’s leading who? Are they becoming closer to Christ because your involvement? Or are you becoming more comfortable in leading an easier, more peer-friendly life, where justification and rationalization occupy most of your thoughts and beliefs?

My biggest complaint for me is that my life looks too similar to everyone else’s. And maybe that’s my issue.
I remember complaining to my coach in high school about making me work extra hard compared to the other players in my position. And he simply said to me, “Well, if you want to be like everyone else, we can stop right here, right now.” That struck a weird chord within me. I didn’t want to be like everyone else. And I remember working my ass off.

In my bucket of sermon ideas, I have this index card where I wrote “What were you saved for?”

It’s a question that has been on my heart for a while… I mean, what were we saved for?

I don’t think it’s to live a life so bland that it’s blends in with everyone else.
I don’t think I was saved to be the same Joe as I was before I knew who God was.
I don’t think I was saved so that my life’s motto could be “Do whatever feels good, bro.”
I was saved for much more…
And because I was saved, my life is indebted to the one who saved… right?

May we remember that God’s grace is a transforming agent.
Paul writes that when we are in Christ, we are a new creation.
If our pre-Christian life looks exactly the same as our life after we became Christian, then I’m afraid that something along the way got lost.
If we receive grace and nothing changes within us, then we may have cheapened the grace of God.

We’re not meant to be like everyone else.
But that doesn’t mean that we get too full of ourselves or think too highly of ourselves.

It’s to live a life in such a way where we make people aware of who it is that we belong to.
But also, to live a life in such a way where people are drawn to the irresistible grace and God’s presence and where they also want to be part of God’s dream for creation.

And of course, it’s easier said than done. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.