22/08/2026
WHEN CHRISTIANITY STOPS LOOKING DIFFERENT, SOMETHING IS WRONG
I perceive that perhaps one of the greatest burdens resting upon our shoulders in this generation is to bridge the dangerous gulf between our theology and our practice.
We confess Christ with our lips, but does our lifestyle still confess Him when nobody is watching?
Somewhere along the line, the dividing lines have become blurry. What the world calls normal is gradually becoming acceptable to the believer. And if we do not deliberately intervene, we may raise a generation that bears the name of Jesus but walks in the ways of the world.
God forbid!
We need to have the hard conversations—NOW.
A Christian student writes an examination for an absent friend.
A Christian student helps someone falsify an attendance register.
A Christian buys another person's project and submits it as his own.
A Christian parent pays for a “special centre” so their child can obtain results through examination malpractice.
A Christian lecturer tells students, “Even if you pass, you will not pass my course unless you give me something.”
A Christian project supervisor refuses to graduate students until he receives a “gift”—a polite word for bribe.
A Christian policeman mounts an illegal roadblock and collects illegal money.
A Christian customs officer offers to help an importer evade legitimate duties in exchange for personal gain.
A Christian actor or actress participates in scenes that openly promote immorality.
A Christian model poses almost naked for an advertisement.
And then we ask:
“What is wrong with it?”
Everything is wrong with it if Christ is truly Lord of our lives.
The question is not, “Can I get away with it?”
The question is:
“Does this represent Jesus?”
The god of this world is gradually attempting to reshape our consciences until we become comfortable with what Scripture calls sin.
And sadly, many believers are beginning to ask:
«“Why can't I do what everybody else is doing?”»
But Christianity was never designed to make us look like everybody else.
Paul said believers should shine “as lights in the world” in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.
James warned that friendship with the world is enmity with God.
Jesus called us salt and light.
Salt must be distinct to preserve.
Light must be distinct to illuminate.
If the church becomes indistinguishable from the darkness, what light will the world see?
We must deliberately teach believers what it means to represent Christ in the classroom, laboratory, office, business, marketplace, police station, customs service, entertainment industry, politics and every other profession.
We must teach our children that not every profitable business is a righteous business.
We must teach believers that not every well-paying job is worth taking.
We must teach them that money cannot sanctify what God has condemned.
We must teach them that integrity is not negotiable simply because everyone else has compromised.
The church has a divine responsibility to demonstrate God's wisdom to the world.
If we continue to sit back and “mind our business,” we may raise men and women who carry the name of Christ while practicing the values of the world—and they will pass the same confusion to their children.
We must arrest this flow NOW.
When God brought Israel out of Egypt, He repeatedly warned them not to behave like the nations around them.
But Israel eventually became like those nations.
They broke God's covenant.
They abandoned His ways.
And God was not pleased.
May our story be different.
May our Christianity be more than church attendance.
May our faith be visible in our decisions.
May our theology become our lifestyle.
May our convictions survive the pressure of culture.
May our children see Christ not only in our Bibles, but also in our businesses, careers, relationships, finances, classrooms and private lives.
Because if we are not clearly different from the world, then we must ask ourselves a painful question:
What exactly are we showing the world about Jesus?
The world does not need Christians who merely profess Christ. It needs Christians who look like Christ.
May God give us the courage to draw the line again.
Holiness is not old-fashioned.
Integrity is not weakness.
Purity is not foolishness.
And righteousness is not negotiable.
We are Christ's representatives in a crooked and perverse generation.
May our generation not fail this assignment.
Amen.
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