The perfect Christian life

I was talking with a couple of friends of mine several weeks ago, and the conversation turned to Christianity and church and related topics, etc. These are old friends from law school that we've caught up with again since moving to this area, and it's been years since we've discussed Christianity with either of them. In the course of the conversation, one of my friends said something about like this: "I've only known a couple of people that I think really lead the Christian life." He then went on to name them and describe what he thought it was about them that made his assertion true. He didn't name me and David. And it stung a little, I must admit. I want to be the light of Christ to a watching world, and like all Christians, I hope that others will see my pathetic and feeble efforts and take notice, hopefully to see Christ and not just me. But now back to the conversation I was having. My friend's description of what made his friends people who truly lived the Christian life seemed to largely have to do with their generosity to others. They were the kind of people who would give others the shirts off their backs. He had good examples of their selfless kindness. These people put most of us more selfish Christians to shame, and that's a good thing. We should be thinking more about giving to others and less about meeting our own needs and wants. Christ commands us to show love to others as an expression of love to him. "...but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."-1 John 4:12. There are a million verses like this one. There are a ton of reminders of the command to show fruit in our Christian lives. We are supposed to live as Jesus lived, and if we're not, we're going to be asked if we really believe if there isn't some smidgen of evidence in our lives to prove that Christ has transformed us. "Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."- James 2:17. As I was getting in my car later, mulling over what he'd said and my own selfishness and lack of witness, this thought hit me: Thank God that Christianity is not about how good I am. It's about how good God is. This does not excuse me from clear commands to live like Christ. But it does change the focus of things entirely. If others are looking at me and trying to decide based on my life whether or not to follow Christ, they're not going to do it. I may be able to live a pretty good life for awhile, but eventually, they're going to see my sin, and they won't want to emulate that. Thank God that they aren't supposed to be emulating me! And thank God that I don't have to constantly worry about that. For years, I did worry about it. I worried that my non-Christian father was looking at my sin and seeing nothing in Christianity to interest him. And since I lived with him every day, he saw a lot of sin in my life. As I grew in my faith, though, I began to put down that self imposed burden. Because it's not about me; it's all about Him. I am so thankful that Christianity is not a religion that insists that you have to rack up a certain number of goodness points before you can go to heaven. It isn't about keeping track of all the good deeds that you can tally up on your scoreboard. Good deeds in and of themselves are not going to get anyone to heaven. They're great, but they're not distinctively Christian. Anyone of any religion can pour out their life in service to others, feeding the poor, caring for the needy, giving away all their money. You don't have to be a Christian to live what others might call a "Christian life," depending on how they're defining it. All these good deads, though, will not get them into heaven, because that's not how we get there. What a relief that is! We get there only through faith in Jesus Christ, and that's great news for those of us who know that our good deeds tally is woefully off. We can't make ourselves righteous anyway, even by the number of saintly deeds done by Mother Theresa. "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus...Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded."- Romans 3:22-24,27. See, even the most selfless person that ever lived has sinned against God. That person needs a savior as much as those of us less outwardly virtuous because God is completely holy (and would we want that any other way?), and He can't have any sin in his presence, so he sent the perfect, sinless sacrifice to wipe out the sins of all of us. Christ's sacrifice is how we get into the presence of God, that and that alone. And I'm so unspeakably thankful for that. That is what inspires me with the love of my Savior that makes me want to live like Him. That is what encourages me to let him pick me up when I'm sitting in the dust of my utter failure to do so. I can strive to walk in his ways, but I'm so glad that He alone carries me to God. So I'm glad for conversations like the one I had with my friend. They remind me of so many things, and they get me thinking about the One who died for me so that I wouldn't have to live a perfect Christian life.