Like any other healthy culture, our Christian culture and environments have brought to life some phrases and statements that resonate values and beliefs that we hold deeply. Pop culture has given it a name: "Christianese."
Some of our Christianese expressions can be very helpful and useful in building faith in others. But there are those that just don't help at all or don't help as much as they used to.
Language and expressions are great ways to communicate ideas that must be spread. But the danger sometimes is that we use these statements without thinking about how they might actually affect the lives around us.
Some of these statements I want to share aren't all that bad. But when used in the wrong situations, they can do more harm than good. Here are three Christianese expressions we should drop.
1. Offering to 'Pray for Someone' as an Excuse to Not Help
There is an immense amount of prayer, no doubt about it, but to some Christians offering prayers has become an excuse to not practically help out. Yes, we should pray for our brothers and sisters unceasingly. But God also commands us to be generous with our time, encouragement and even our resources. Don't just offer prayer when you can offer just a little bit more.
2. 'Christianity Is Not a Religion.'
Through the ages, legalism has been a problem. One way some Christians choose to tackle this is to claim Christianity has nothing to do with rules and tradition. But that's not true. While Christianity is more than just following orders, we can't deny that God still calls us to obey His commands and walk in His ways.
3. 'Doing Life Together'
Fellowship and "doing life together" is a great privilege we get from church community, but it can also become a crutch. Sometimes because we're too busy "doing life together," we stop being a source of life and light to the darkness of this world. There are other people aside from your close circle that need your light as well and when we become too cliquish, we deprive others of that great privilege of knowing Christ, too.
4. 'God Makes Everything Happen in His Will'
God makes all things work together for our good (Romans 8:28), but that doesn't mean He lets everything happen. God didn't want mankind to sin, didn't want death to reign, and definitely doesn't want people to go to hell. God is sovereign no doubt, but man is free to choose and we have to make right choices, too.
5. 'I'm So-and-So's Disciple'
When Jesus commanded the disciples to make more disciples, He told them to teach them "everything I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19), meaning God wants us to make disciples who will follow Jesus, not us. We are never anyone else's disciples except Christ's. We follow God and no one else.
