The Secret to Christian Living

The other day, I was lamenting the fact that our society is such that drug commercials have to warn people not to take something if they are allergic to that something. “I’m so smart,” I thought. “Who could be dumb enough to do such a thing?” These thoughts, as I drift quicker and quicker to the proverbial old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn. Good thing I don’t have a lawn.

Anyway, the red light on my air purifier came on the other day so we ordered some replacement filters. I did a quick search online to see if I really needed to change the air filter or how long I could wait, etc., etc. and I found a picture of what a dirty air filter looks like. When I opened up my air purifier, to my amazement, I discovered that my air filter was spotless, like new! But we’ve been running it 24/7 for months. In my ignorance or just plain stupidity, I had installed the first air filter without taking off the plastic wrapping (I have included a photo below just in case you think it’s impossible for a married man with three kids to do something so dumb). So, for months, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, our air purifier has been giving all indications that it was running and purifying the air. The light was on, it sounded like it was working, and yet, I had been wasting electricity and deceiving myself into thinking the air I was breathing was pure.

Sometimes, in our walk with the Lord, we think that there is some secret out there. We think that if we had just the right knowledge then our lives would fall right into place. We order the hottest new Christian Living book that’s on Amazon’s bestseller list. We are sure that the secret must be in there somewhere. Look at the success of the preacher. He must be doing something right. And maybe he is.

In this world of transformative technology and AI and all the rest, it can sometimes seem like the newest thing is the best thing. But in the world of theology and our walk with the Lord, it is the old knowledge that we most need to be reminded of. The instruction to read your Bible and pray every day is just as much relevant now as it was when you first believed. The secret to Christian living is that there is no secret.

Maybe you’re thinking you need a new filter and that will really fix the problems you are experiencing. But the truth is, you might just need to take the wrapper off the old one. Let us then, “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).