5 Things Christians Should Stop Doing Right Now

Christians receive a lot of criticism for what they do and for what they fail to do, as well. It seems as if everyone has a set of standards to which they hold other Christians, and believers find they can never please everyone. Sometimes it feels like hardly anyone at all is satisfied with believers. I’d like to jump to every Christian’s defense, but I’m sad to say, these critics are not always wrong. So, I plan to take this opportunity to suggest five things that Christians should stop doing. In fact, I’m begging believers to put an end to these things. Immediately.

Seriously, Christians Should Stop Doing These Things, Like, Yesterday

I mentioned this topic to my husband recently, and he immediately thought of something he assumed was on my list. It was not and currently is not. You know what, though? It was an excellent idea. I share that little anecdote because I want to impress upon you that this list is nowhere near complete. Christians do a lot of self-defeating things, and, well, they end up hurting themselves, others, and their testimonies. I simply don’t have the time (and neither do you) for a blog post long enough to discuss all the things Christians should stop doing.

Why these five behaviors? There is no major reason aside from the fact that I have personally witnessed them enough to see they’re a problem. So, let’s dive in.

1. Christians Should Stop Holding Nonbelievers To Biblical Standards

Once saved, a Christian is a new creation. She is indwelled with the Holy Spirit, and her life will begin to reflect Christ. She will begin the process we call sanctification. In other words, a believer is being made holy over time.

“That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” (emphasis mine)

Ephesians 4:22-24

Meanwhile, an unsaved person does not have the Holy Spirit to guide her, and she has no reason to pursue a godly life. She has no relationship with Christ and belongs to the world.

“And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.”

1 John 5:19

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

1 John 2:15

“Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.”

John 8:42-45

How Does It Even Help?

All right. The Bible distinguishes between the saved and unsaved, and we can clearly see that only one of those groups of people is led by the Holy Spirit and has received a new nature. Therefore, why would we expect those who do not know the Lord to obey Him? Moreover, how does holding them to that expectation even help them?

As an unbeliever, there’s little that is more obnoxious than a Christian who looks down her nose at others and has a list of rules she thinks everyone else should be following.

“Don’t swear. Wear ‘modest‘ clothing. Abstain from drinking alcohol. Read the Bible. Give money to a church. Wait for marriage to have sex.”

That unbeliever isn’t seeing love from you or hearing about the redemptive gift we have through Jesus Christ. She just sees rules that mean nothing to her and don’t align with her worldview. Christian, meet the lost person where she is, and share the gospel with her. She doesn’t need to get cleaned up first, and she definitely has no reason to live like a Christian when she isn’t one…yet.

2. Christians Should Stop Expecting Perfection

I’m a perfectionist, and it’s been that way for as long as I can remember. And, oh, how I vividly remember every mistake I make. I’ve spent many nights just thinking about my failures and playing them over and over again.

That self-imposed impossible standard is bad enough, but sometimes perfectionist Christians hold other believers to the same expectation. As soon as a sister in Christ says something incorrect about God, believes something false from culture, or shares a questionable meme…BAM! A legion of Christians hammers down on her, often publicly, to fix her mistake. Sadly, she isn’t always given an opportunity to clarify her stance, be corrected, or repent, if necessary. She’s a dirty heretic now, and she must go!

As I mentioned earlier, sanctification is a process. We are becoming more like Christ over time, but we’re never going to be perfect while we’re in a fallen world in a lifelong battle with our flesh.

“But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

Hebrews 10:12-14 (ESV)

Rather than unreasonable expectations for yourself and other Christians, how about you offer grace? Recognize that everyone, yourself included, is growing at their own pace and the Holy Spirit is fully capable of working without you coming in with the assist for everybody around you.

Also, beware that your perfectionism may be sin rooted in pride. If that’s the case, then you should step back and consider how many perfect people you know. It’s none, dear, because there has only been one perfect person. Jesus. (And you ain’t Him.)

“He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.”

1 Peter 2:22 (ESV)

“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

Hebrews 4:15

“And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.”

1 John 3:5

3. Christians Should Stop Compromising On Bible Truths

We live in an increasingly sensitive world, don’t we? It feels like a society paved with eggshells. Each word we speak must be painstakingly chosen. Every signal we send with body language should be carefully considered. I mean, what would happen if we offended someone? Tragedy…

I don’t mean to make light of causing offense because Christians should never seek that out. However, offense is a very real risk when we live out our faith and tell others about Jesus Christ. But too many believers seem more willing to offend God Himself than to step on an unbeliever’s toes with biblical truth.

Christians will compromise on premarital sex, LGBTQ+ issues, the reality of Hell, and any number of additional things as long as it gets people in their church or willing to continue their friendship. I suppose the concern here is that people will think Christians are judgy and mean if believers are unwilling to bend and change with the times.

Being accommodating may sound like a solid plan, but it’s going to make you be disobedient to God, keep Jesus away from unsaved people, and ruin your testimony as a follower of Christ. On the other hand, if you think the Lord needs you to be an ambassador for Christ by watering down biblical truth because God isn’t enough of a draw for people, then move forward with compromising. You’re doing great!

You’re deliberately sinning, of course, but you’re doing a fantastic job if that was the plan.

“So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

James 4:17 (ESV)

4. Christians Should Stop Having A Church Consumer Mentality

Church leadership sees church consumers all the time. Sometimes they’re members, but usually they won’t commit to membership because there are often expectations attached to being a member. So, they come to Sunday morning service, usually skipping any other services throughout the week, and then leave for lunch directly afterwards. They don’t volunteer to help with any ministries, add little else than “constructive” criticism to the environment, and build few to no relationships with people in the church.

A church consumer is only looking for what she can get from church. Her concern is solely focused on what the messages and people provide for her rather than asking herself how she could bless the church and people in attendance. Inevitably, the church consumer won’t get what she wants any longer and will move to another church to start over again. It’ll be a new church but the same ol’ story.

It’s all right to shop around and look for a church that agrees with your beliefs and has an environment you can see yourself being comfortable in. However, believers need to find a church home eventually and look for ways they can use their spiritual gifts. And no, telling the pastor why his sermon fell flat for you is not a spiritual gift. By the way, those long emails filled with corrections and “helpful” tips aren’t a gift, either – spiritual or otherwise.

Christian, we are part of the Body of Christ, and we are called to minister to one another in our own unique ways. We need each other, and coming to just take what we want is not what the Bible instructs us to do.

God Wants You To Participate, Friend

“For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.”

Romans 12:4-5

“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body…Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.”

1 Corinthians 12:12-20;27

5. Christians Should Stop Trying To Win Arguments

Do you know how someone wins you over to her side by insulting your intelligence, insisting on the last word, raising her voice, and bombarding you with new arguments before you can even respond to one? Yeah, me neither. Yet, a lot of interactions between believers and unbelievers unfold in this manner. I wish I could say that only unsaved people enter civilized conversations ready to attack, but plenty of Christians seem to enjoy “destroying” unsaved people in intellectual debates about faith.

May I ask a simple question? Why? Are arguments with the intention of “winning” going to point someone to Christ? Is an adversarial spirit better than a welcoming and loving one? Personally, I’m more likely to dig in and be unwilling to change my mind when someone sees me as an opponent. Ultimately, my husband’s kind and gentle approach is what allowed me to be vulnerable enough to seek out answers in the Bible. Not to mention, that attitude and approach offered me proof that Jesus can change people.

Jesus didn’t suffer and die on the cross so you could win a Facebook fight or make your neighbor look stupid for not knowing the Bible accurately. He came to save mankind, and that is the message we should all be sharing.

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

2 Peter 3:9

And given what we know about what happens to those who die having no relationship with Jesus, we ought to feel an urgency to share the gospel and a deep compassion for those who don’t yet know Him. If I win my argument but my opponent loses her soul, then there are really no winners at all.

“And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;”

2 Thessalonians 1:7-9

“And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Revelation 20:14-15

“The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 13:41-42

Final Thought

Believers do a lot of good in the world through missions, charities, and the relationships they form in their everyday lives, but they’re still human. And humans fall woefully short of perfection. I encourage you (and myself) to investigate your habits. Are you doing any of the things that Christians should stop doing? If so, think about how that’s working out for you and those around you. If you’re in sin, confess and seek forgiveness. Our God is faithful and just to forgive us when we sin (1 John 1:9), so there’s nothing stopping you. Move forward as a follower of Christ, ready to walk in obedience and as a living sacrifice for our Savior.

What else do you think Christians should stop doing?

Image courtesy of Nadine Shaabana via Unsplash.