Christianity: A Lifestyle or a Label?

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! (Galatians 5:22-23, NLT).

A good friend of mine has a little boy with Celiac disease, which essentially means his body reacts in a very negative way when he consumes anything containing gluten. So, for their family, reading labels has become critically important.

I remember having a conversation with her several years back when she shared with me how inaccurate many of the food labels in the grocery stores actually are. Early on in their journey with Celiac, she had chosen to trust a particular food item that was labeled “gluten-free”; however, it was only after an episode of sickness that she realized just how untrue that label was. From that point on, she never trusted the label. Instead, she chose to look at each individually listed ingredient, and most often, she cooked everything from scratch to ensure she was feeding him things that wouldn’t make him sick.

When I pause and think about those labels in the grocery store, it makes me think about my life. One question I’ve asked myself is this: When I call myself a Christian, a follower of Jesus, am I just using that as a label, or does my lifestyle actually reflect that truth?

Early on in my journey with discovering more about the Word of God, I was led to Galatians 5:22–23: But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! When I discovered that our calling as followers of Jesus is to replace following the desires of our sinful nature with producing fruit in our lives, it truly changed my life.

In truth, especially over the last couple of years as our world has been marked by a pandemic and political divisiveness, I’ve often found that Christianity has become more of a label than a lifestyle. We talk about our faith and proclaim ourselves as followers of Jesus, but do the ingredients of our hearts and the outcome of our actions actually reflect the character of God? I’m not talking about perfection here—I’m talking about progress.

It’s a tough question, but it’s one I try to ask myself often. Like those foods on the grocery store shelves that are inaccurately labeled “gluten-free,” am I just slapping a label of “Christian” on my social media and dating profiles, or am I actually living a life in pursuit of becoming more like Jesus? Again, progress, not perfection.

I want to be like my friend who made the decision to avoid buying into labels and committed to cooking with raw ingredients. Every component necessary to live a life that reflects the love of Jesus can be found in the Word of God. When I make a decision to lean into reading these “natural ingredients,” I no longer have to worry about labeling myself as a Christian nor about the outcome of how this “spiritual food” will make me feel. I can lean into the truth that the Word of God is alive, and it will feed me in a way that doesn’t generate a label but rather a lifestyle that honors and glorifies God.

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