Intentionally Christian (or 'You are what you eat')

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9

Dear Friends in Christ,

What other parts of our lives need “intentionally Christian” attention? Various parts of our culture are favorite targets of blame. But instead of looking for blame, why not ask “how is this forming and shaping me, without me noticing? What counts for good or bad here?” There’s an old saying about diet: “you are what you eat” and another: “garbage in, garbage out.” So it is in what we consume in other ways as well.

For instance, we think of the “Dark Net” as sinister, and so it is. But what does the average movie on Netflix teach us? How much do we consume darkness in what seems commonplace? When zombie movies first appeared years ago, my first impression was how popular cynical nihilism was becoming. This is attitude that ‘society is going to collapse anyway, so let’s start shooting people.’ My second impression was that simply making characters zombies made them inherently evil and therefore, fair game to be brutally killed. Somehow that justified all the head-chopping blood spatter of games and movies our teenagers could spend hours on. All we needed, in order to enjoy all the killing, was the label “zombie,” or perhaps “fascist” or “criminal.”

Of course, the oppression and brutality of true fascism is wrong, and the crimes of true criminals are wrong, but do you see how quickly we’ve trained ourselves to enjoy bloodshed by mere application of a label? How many hours a day do we train our teenagers—or ourselves—to reject dehumanization? How much do we immerse ourselves in respect and grace? How much do we train ourselves in how to attract others to what is good and true? What would that training even look like?

How do we train ourselves to follow the one who gave up his life—not to kill the bad guy—but to save the bad guy from his sins? To bring good from evil? Not sitting silent on our hands, but taking action to press against evil—without treating anyone as disposable?

Intentionally Christian lives stars not by a quick “us and them” judgment, but by asking: how can we immerse ourselves in the presence of God? How does this part of my life or that part of my life form and shape me—toward God or away from God? Toward a Christ-like approach to others or away from a Jesus-like life?

You have more control over your time and energy than you think you do. Why not try something new in your daily routine to live a more intentionally Christian life?

Yours in Christ,

-Tom