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Christianity may not be about what you think it’s about. Jesus might be radically different than you think He is.

Here’s something you or someone you know may have experienced. You sincerely try to follow Jesus according to His truth. You eventually get confused or frustrated because somewhere in the ocean of well-intentioned self-righteous standards, popular theology of our culture, and the actual Bible you got a bit lost on what following Him in truth even is. Can you relate? I can.

I’ve been following Jesus since I was 12 and over the years I’ve learned and lived a lot of biblical truth and wisdom…and a lot of “this is what I think and what I do because someone told me that this is what Christians think and do/don’t do.” Sometimes I was even convinced the Bible backed up those ideas only to discover later during personal study that it didn’t.

I had been living out someone else’s ideas of what being a Christian meant mixed with what Jesus said being a Christian meant. Unfortunately, just because our perceptions are sincerely held doesn’t necessarily mean they are accurate.

Heaping On The Hype

This is not a new problem. The Pharisees did the same thing. The Pharisees were a group of religious leaders in Jesus’ day who added their own ideas of how people should live out God’s commands beyond what God actually said in His Scriptures. Then they expected others to follow God’s guidelines and their own as well. (Matthew 15:1-3)

They burdened people with extra-biblical ideas and rules, making it harder for them to follow God in the process. Jesus constantly challenged them on this. (Mark 7:6-8 // Luke 11:46-52)

“Yes,” said Jesus, “what sorrow also awaits you experts in religious law! For you crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden. (Luke 11:46)

Ouch.

This kind of thing still happens today. We are more influenced by our traditions and environments, for better or worse, than we like to admit.

When Jesus challenged the Pharisees, He exposed a tendency we all have as humans: the tendency to fall victim to distorted truth.

• We have a tendency to be more rigid and legalistic than Jesus is.

• We have a tendency to be more casual about sin and truth than Jesus is.

• We have a tendency to make up our own ideas of what Jesus is like instead of believing what’s true about Him.

And somewhere between our humanity and our good intentions the essence of following Christ in sincerity gets lost.

The result?

Self-righteousness. Empty religiosity. Compassionless throwing of stones at “outsiders.” Sincere but burdened pursuit of Jesus.  Spiritual fatigue. Disinterest in getting to know Jesus or following Him at all.

Finding Freedom

A tarnished picture of relationship with Jesus causes the very thing we were made for to appear burdensome and even undesirable. A tarnished picture of relationship with Jesus causes those who have not yet discovered faith in Him to be repelled by the very Savior and Friend who wants them near to Him forever.

Do you see the need to press through false conceptions to get to the truth? The misconceptions put burdens on us and build walls in our hearts that distance us from Jesus. But the truth sets us free. (John 8:32)

The truth lifts the burden of extra-biblical religious demands. The truth breaks down the walls of misconception concerning Jesus. The truth sets us free to know, love and follow Jesus, experiencing the fullness of life that is found in Him.  The truth shows us how to live within Christ’s loving boundaries without making them burdens.

Living The Truth

So where do we find the truth?

There’s a story in Acts 17:10-12 about the people of Berea. After hearing the apostle Paul teach the message of Jesus to them, they looked into the Scriptures for themselves to confirm that what he taught was true. That is the same balance we need to have-not from a place of fear or arrogance-but from a place of eagerness to genuinely know and follow Jesus.

It’s in the Bible-God’s Word to us-that we discover true Christianity.  It’s in the Bible that we discover what Jesus is really like, what to believe and how to live as His followers.  (John 5:39 // 2 Timothy 3:15-17)

We can make sure we believe and live the way we do because of our own personal decision to follow Jesus and careful, prayerful study of the Scripture. We can make sure our beliefs and practices are based in the teaching of the Bible, not a well-intentioned distortion of the truth.

Listen to teaching from the Bible. (Acts 2:42) Honor and learn from spiritual leaders. (Hebrews 13:7) Learn from other Christians. (Colossians 3:16) We are supposed to do those things and they are all biblical.

But let’s base our relationship with Jesus and the message of faith in Christ we share with others on biblical truth that we have not only heard from others and adopted but that we have personally sought in God’s Word allowing it to shape our minds, impact our hearts and change our lives.

Join The Journey

Over at my About page, I shared with you that I created this blog for young adults to explore authentic Christianity, challenging some of the misconceptions of what that means from both within and outside of the Church and giving practical insights on how to live genuine faith in Jesus in our day-to-day lives.

Wherever you find yourself in your journey of faith as a Christian or as someone exploring Christianity, I hope this is a space where we can discover and live authentic faith in Jesus together.  In each post I’ll share challenges to our ideas, encouragements and practical insights that are helping me on my journey to live authentic Christianity. I invite you to learn and discuss with me.

Let’s Talk: What has been your experience with this?  Have you typically lived out someone else’s idea of following Jesus or followed Him based on your own faith and reading of the Bible? Discuss this post in the comments below.

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