Vietnam Evangelical Covenant Church – Christians are still known for good works: helping the poor, feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, supporting the oppressed, fighting for justice and many other acts of love. But Christians also carry a bad reputation because of some poor habits. Here are six things we need to stop doing:
Christians are known for their good works, but sometimes a few bad habits obscure our witness. Here are six bad habits Christians should drop so that our lives reflect Jesus more clearly. Scripture quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB).
6 Bad Habits Christians Should Drop
1. Judging
Judging others is one of the sins Jesus repeatedly warned His followers against (Matthew 7:1–5).
Christians need to understand that our judgment does not change how God sees a person. Whether an action, belief or lifestyle is right or wrong depends not on our opinion, but on God’s.
2. Predicting the future
Some Christians unintentionally obscure the importance of the gospel. They often predict and “prophesy” about political events, planetary alignments, environmental phenomena, current events, natural disasters, the antichrist, the end times and the apocalypse.
When bad things happen, some Christians take the opportunity to explain that God is angry with a certain group and is punishing them. In reality, that is engaging in a kind of fortune-telling that spreads fear and falsehood.
3. Complicating the love of Jesus
On the Christian journey, the call to love can at times feel dull, unappealing and incomplete.
Following Jesus is very hard. It requires sacrifice, humility, service, patience, forgiveness and a great deal of love. We sometimes avoid the passages about love and prefer passages that require less self-denial, are less demanding and easier to accept.
So some of us become more passionate about Christian positions on political, social, moral or theological issues. But we forget the great command Jesus left us: love others as yourself.
Sometimes, making intellectual positions more important than love is a form of idolatry.
4. Posting junk on social media
Political and social arguments, judging others, inaccurate theology and Bible verses quoted out of context are things Christians often post on social media. But these do more harm than good.
The truth is that posting bitter, narrow-minded and aggressive content on our Facebook pages or other accounts does not glorify God. Before posting anything, stop and think: “Is this true, helpful, inspiring and kind?”
5. Hypocrisy
It is easy to talk about God, debate theology and post about faith on every kind of media platform. But to follow Christ, we must actually turn our words into actions. Christians must practice what they preach.
Unfortunately, too many Christians talk about the love of Christ without truly loving. And when the world sees the contradiction between believers’ words and actions, it stops listening.
6. Close-mindedness
Many of the problems above stem from close-mindedness. We don’t examine, acknowledge or engage in dialogue that would broaden our limited knowledge and experience. When Christians ignore and refuse to learn about cultural, ethnic, socioeconomic, artistic, intellectual and experiential perspectives, or the realities of different ages and genders, we foolishly cut ourselves off from a vast source of wisdom and understanding. That leads to misperceptions and indifference toward people who are different from us.
In short, Christianity is a faith and way of life centered on Jesus, not on political platforms, doctrinal disputes, online religious commentary or prophecies of doom.
Replacing Bad Habits With a Life of Witness
Recognizing a bad habit is the first step, but it is not enough. Ask God to replace it with a good habit: replace judging with intercession, junk posts with encouraging words, hypocrisy with honesty about your own weaknesses.
Which of these six bad habits do you see in yourself? Bring it to God and ask a godly friend to hold you accountable this month. Changing a bad habit is a process, but God’s grace is sufficient for every step.
Remember that the world around us reads our lives before it reads the Bible. When we drop these bad habits, our witness to Jesus becomes clearer and more believable.
You may also like: 5 Ways to Break Bad Habits and Kill Your Pet Sin Before It Kills You.
Prayer
Lord, search our hearts and show us the bad habits that obscure our witness. Give us strength to turn from them and live in a way that reflects the love of Jesus. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Article: Vietnam Evangelical Covenant Church
Adapted from: RelevantMagazine.com
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