Day 265: The Split Personalities of Christianity

Galatians 2:11-13

But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile believers, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

Have you ever felt like you were living a double life? Meaning have you ever felt that because of your faith you had to act a certain way in front of certain people, and when they were gone you could go back to being yourself? I cannot speak for everyone but I have felt this way far too many times. Being a youth pastor and ordained at a very young age, I felt like I always had to be “on”. This caused me to separate my christian life from my personal life. Many of you can probably see the problem in this sentence before I go into any explanation. As Christians we sometimes fall into a lifestyle that has to be separated, we have these sort of split personalities where we act one way in from of certain people and another way in front of others. We feel like we cannot completely be ourselves as Christians. Why we feel this way may have something to do with the fact that we do not want to give up our old lifestyle completely, but that’s another subject for another day. Take Peter for example, he was a man of God, he shared the gospel and led many to Christ. However, Peter ate with the Gentiles when no one was around to judge him for it. When it was just him and the Gentiles, everything was fine and dandy. But when the people came who knew Him, the friends of James, when his Christians friends came around he acted like he never sat with the Gentiles. He refused to eat with them. He didn’t want to be judged for eating with people who were considered sinners, but he was okay to do it when no one was around. Because of this people started to act the same way. What I’m getting at here is simple, our lives as Christians is not and should not be separated from who we are as people. It’s almost like we go from human to robot mode. We sometimes forget how to be normal and human. We switch on our Christianity at certain times around certain people, but sometimes we can have it off. No that’s not how it works, being a Christian is who we are, we have an identity in Christ that is who we are. It is a lifestyle, the only way to live. There is nobody or nothing separate from that, we don’t get to choose when to switch it on or off. We are Christians followers of Christ at every moment. Everyday of our lives, this is a commitment, it’s a relationship, a lifestyle. It is a choice we made. We should not have two different ways of living.  We often do this because we are afraid to be judged.

Why do we often feel like our humanity is stripped from us when we give our lives to Christ? We turn into these bible robots who no longer know how to be human. We fear letting our humanity show because it will show that we are flawed human beings, sinners saved by grace. So we fall into this routine where we decide when and where to let our faith show and when we can “be ourselves”. When we are Christians, being Christlike is being ourselves. We are nothing outside of christ, so who are we or who are we pretending to be when we set our faith down to “be ourselves”?

We are so concerned with how people will see us and what they will think or say that we allow ourselves to put up a facade. It’s like putting on a mask that we remove from time to time to reveal and cover who we really are. . We allow ourselves to create a separate identity that is only unleashed when “we don’t have to be Christian”. Once again, there is never a moment when we are not Christian.

All this to say, do not have split personalities when it comes to being a Christian. You are not a robot, you do not have to strip yourself of your humanity. Don’t worry about what others will say about you, if you are in the will of God and you know you are living according to His word then you have nothing to worry about. The problem comes when we feel like we have to have a separate life outside of the life we live for Christ.

Reflection

1. Take the time to think about and respond to what we discussed today.
2. Have you ever felt like to had to be “on” in front of certain people?
3. Have you ever felt like you had to separate you life as a christian and you life as a normal person? If yes, why?
4. Have you ever felt the need to prove you Christianity?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer, talk to God and have an honest conversation with Him about what we discussed today.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 266!