Can You Christian Today?

Have you noticed the meme floating around that says, “I can’t adult today”?

It sounds clumsy with its unconventional use of “adult” as a verb, but it’s not hard to get what the saying means: “At the moment, I am incapable of being a responsible grown-up.” Sometimes, we just want to hit the pause button on the duties of adulthood.

A blogger, also a pastor and writer, referred to this not long ago in a blog post titled, “I can’t Christian today.” Only in his case, he wasn’t trying to be funny.

After declaring, “I can’t Christian today,” he added, “I can no longer be tethered to this thing that is so toxic and so painful to so many. I can’t wade through any more bad theology and predatory behavior from pulpit-pounding pastors who seem solely burdened to exclude and to wound and to do harm. I can’t sift through all this malice and bitterness masquerading as Christianity to try to find what of it is left worth keeping.”

It’s easy these days to see the “us versus them” mentality to which he alludes. It surfaces in most denominations these days as followers of Jesus squabble over what serving him should look like and how the Bible should be applied. With such rabid partisanship in play today, it’s not surprising that some would endorse the conclusion the blogger suggested and agree that today, it’s not helpful for followers of Jesus to identify themselves as “Christian.”

But the apostle Paul had no such reservations. He, too, was distressed with the behavior of some who called themselves Christians. Against these people, Paul minced no words: “Keep an eye on those who cause dissensions and offenses, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned; avoid them. For such people do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded” (Romans 16:17-18).

These troublemakers were probably those who argued that Christians, whether Gentile or Jew, must observe Jewish religious customs, including circumcision. But Paul countered that new Christians needed to do no such thing. So, of course, he didn’t like that some other Christian teachers argued otherwise.

Nonetheless, despite how Paul felt about those he was convinced misapplied the gospel, he freely and gladly identified himself as a follower of Jesus. It’s impossible to imagine Paul getting up one morning and declaring, “I can’t Christian today.” Can’t see it.

And then there’s today’s Epistle, from Paul’s second letter to Timothy, in which Paul, apparently sensing the end of his life drawing near, wrote, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

He got to this place in his thinking by getting up day after day with the attitude that he could serve Christ that day.

He’s facing death — and not a death by natural causes — yet he’s still able to say, “Hey, another day to be a Christian! I can Christian today!”

What about us? Do we ever get so troubled by how some people behave in the name of Christ, be they clergy or laity, that we don’t want outsiders to think these people represent what “Christian” means?

Today, Christians are splintered into many divisions and factions. Not only are we divided into numerous denominational camps, we’re divided by various and sundry political and cultural boundaries. For many, these political boundaries are far more important than the denominational and doctrinal ones.

Some might say, “Well, if this is what it means to be a Christian, I want no part of it.” Or, they might simply say, “I’m done. I can’t Christian today.”

When we say this, of course, we immediately become one of the partisans we despise.

But let’s take a clue from how that odd phrasing uses “Christian” as though it were a verb. While in standard usage “Christian” is normally a noun or adjective, in practice it’s often a verb — a word used to identify an action.

The truth is that while there are millions of Christians who don’t want to be associated with Christians of questionable views, politics and practices, those same millions are out there nonetheless “Christianing” day after day, serving God faithfully in our troubled world.

They are developing programs to help the needy.

They are helping out at their church.

They are counselling low-functioning adults.

They are tutoring teens who need help with academics.

They are delivering meals to the elderly.

They are leading Bible studies at nursing homes.

They aren’t going to let their work be derailed by those who, in their opinion, are misguided, immature Christians blabbering nonsense in the public arena.

The remedy for those who say “I can’t Christian today” is to go and volunteer somewhere. Verbize Christian. Or, as Paul put it to Timothy in his letter: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed” (2:15).

We can also take a clue from something the resurrected Jesus said during a breakfast conversation with Peter on the shores of Galilee. It is the last recorded interaction we have between Jesus and Peter. After Jesus renewed his call to Peter to serve him, Peter looked at another disciple and asked Jesus, “Lord, what about him?”

Jesus replied, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!” (John 21:22). In other words, “What is that to you that some don’t interpret Christianity as you do? I’m talking to you, not to them. You follow me!”

So when we get distressed with other Christians, remember those seven words: What Is That to You? Follow Me!

Print this and laminate it and tape it to your office wall.

Write it on a sticky note and put it on your laptop.

Yes, there are times when — as faithful Christians — we must rebuke those whose views and actions discredit Christianity. Prophets are needed.

The thing is, currently there’s no shortage of prophets. The prophetic word is out there already. In fact, today we have competing schools of the prophet. And their shouting back and forth to each other in the public square is hard not to miss. So the rebuking, the standing against, the warnings and so on — all that’s pretty much covered right now.

So, maybe it would be better to shut our mouths and open our hands to be the hands of Christ reaching out to a fallen world.

Christ calls us to be people who say, “I can follow Jesus today. I can Christian today.”

We don’t need more squabbling Christians in the world, we need more of Christ in the world, and that’s up to us, with God’s help.

And that’s what enables us, when the end comes, to say with Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”