Can You Be a Real Christian in Your Ordinary Life?

Scripture – 1 Corinthians 7:20 (NRSV)

Let each of you remain in the condition in which you were called.

Devotion

We can tell from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians that these new believers got some things right and some things wrong when it came to living as a Christian. For example, they got it right that believing in Jesus wasn’t just a minor add-on to one’s otherwise ordinary life. They correctly concluded that it meant living in a whole new way, with new values, priorities, and practices. Yet, many of the Corinthian Christians wrongly concluded that this new way of living required a radical change in one’s personal situation. Some who were married to non-Christian spouses, for example, believed that they should leave their marriages in order to be fully committed to Jesus. They assumed that it was not possible to be a real Christian in their ordinary lives.

In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul sought to correct this misunderstanding of the Christian life. He urged the Corinthians in verse 17 to “lead the life that the Lord has assigned, to which God called you.” He said something similar in verse 20: “Let each of you remain in the condition in which you were called.” This translation rightly conveys the basic sense of the original language. Curiously, though, what Paul actually wrote was, “Let each one remain in the calling [klēsis] in which you were called.” One’s situation in life at the time of one’s calling (or conversion) was not merely an accident. It was something intended by God, something God planned to use for divine purposes.

So, if we were to ask Paul, “Can I be a real Christian in my ordinary life?” he would almost surely answer “Yes.” In fact, he would tell most believers that God’s plan was for them to live out their faith precisely in the context in which they were living and working when they first said “Yes” to Christ. I say “most believers” because Paul would not endorse every possible context in which a person was called. In Ephesians 4:28, for example, Paul wrote, “Thieves must give up stealing.” So, if your situation were to involve outright sin, such as thievery, it would be right to leave it. But, for most believers, their challenge was to discover how to live as genuine Christians in the context of their calling.

Now we mustn’t turn this into a hard and fast rule. Sometimes our personal context changes for good reasons. My original calling to Christ, for example, came when I was just going into first grade. I’m quite sure Paul wouldn’t want me, at this stage in my life, to live out my faith as a 63-year-old first grader at Glenoaks Elementary School. Moreover, sometimes God calls people away from one situation to a very different one. Abraham and Sarah, for example, were called to leave their home and journey to a new, distant land (Genesis 12:1-3). Yet, for the most part, God expects those he calls to believe and to serve while remaining in the context where they were when they heard and responded to the gospel. This context could, in some ways, even be seen as one’s calling, one’s divine assignment.

The implications of Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 7 are powerful, especially if you sometimes doubt whether you can be a real Christian in your ordinary life. Today, there are some well-intentioned Christian teachers who believe that the only way to truly follow Jesus requires a radical rejection of ordinary life. Real Christians, in this view, aren’t folks who work as teachers, bankers, house painters, and parents. They have to do radical things for Jesus, like move across the world and invest their lives in the fight against poverty. But, while it’s true that God does call some to very different ways of living and working, it’s not true that all genuine Christians must abandon their current circumstances. In fact, from the perspective of 1 Corinthians 7, these circumstances could even be seen as our calling.

Reflect

Have you ever worried that you aren’t able to be a “real Christian” in your ordinary life?

Or, do you believe that, in some way, God has placed you where you are, to live for his purposes in your current situation?

How are you encouraged, challenged, and instructed to live as an authentic Christian in the midst of your workplace, neighborhood, family, friendship groups, and city?

Act

Set aside some minutes for prayer. During this time, ask God how you might live for him today in your “ordinary” life. Follow the Spirit’s lead as you seek to live today for God’s purposes and glory.

Pray

Gracious God, thank you for calling us into relationship with yourself through the gospel. Thank you for reaching out to us in the midst of our “ordinary” lives. Thank you for the possibility of discovering what it means to live for you each day in all of the places in which we live and learn, work and play.

Help me, Lord, to discover in new ways what it means to live each moment for you. May I offer to you all that I am, whether I’m at work or at home, in the local market or in my church. Teach me, Lord, to be a “real Christian” in the midst of my “ordinary” life, knowing that living for you is never really ordinary. Amen.

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Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Commentary on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Bloom Where You Are Planted (1 Corinthians 7:20–24)