Transformation takes time.

When you became a Christian, did you change dramatically? You should have. The difference in you should have made everyone you know stop and ask you what happened? Maybe you were raised in the church without a big conversion. Is your life dramatically different from your friends outside the church? And by that, I don’t just mean that you don’t get drunk or do drugs. I mean, can they see by your life that Jesus shines in you?

If we carry around all our fear, frustration, and anger just like everyone else, then the gospel has not changed us. There has been no conversion.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2Cor 5:17) If the old things have not passed away, then there is no new creation. 

Going to church does not make you a Christian. Following rules about how you’re supposed to live does not make you a Christian. Jesus said to follow Him, to do what He did. Are you living like Jesus? Can you say that love motivates your entire life? That you would rather see other people happy above your own needs?

The real gospel requires everything we’ve got. It’s inconvenient. It costs us. If people outside the church can’t see how much we love and can’t see our humility, then there is something wrong. It’s time to go back to God and repent. It’s time to ask God to make us look like Him and mean it. Be real. Be real with God and you’ll find out just how amazing His is. Don’t be left standing on the outside, dive in. It’s what He died for.