My passion is to help people look less like Adam and more like Christ. Whoever is in Christ is supposed to walk like Jesus did, imitate Christ, follow in His steps, put off the old self and be made like Christ.

However, (in case you haven’t noticed), that’s becoming increasingly difficult. An hour on Sunday isn’t going to cut it. Seeing someone’s life changed as a result of Sundays alone is about as likely as being surprised by the ending of a Hallmark Christmas movie. It gets worse when the reality is more like 1 or 2 Sundays per month.

In an article on “The Atlantic”, Author & Pastor Timothy Keller said:

“Christians are always more incarnate in the culture—and the danger of that is that they get captured by it. That’s always been a problem,” he said. There’s ever the danger of “cultural and political captivity.”

When I pressed the point further, Keller admitted he believes that “most Christians are just nowhere nearly as deeply immersed in the scripture and in theology as they are in their respective social-media bubbles and News Feed bubbles. To be honest, I think the ‘woke’ evangelicals are just much more influenced by MSNBC and liberal Twitter. The conservative Christians are much more influenced by Fox News and their particular loops. And they’re [both] living in those things eight to 10 hours a day. They go to church once a week, and they’re just not immersed in the kind of biblical theological study that would nuance that stuff.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/12/timothy-kellers-moral-universe/603001/

I studied several studies earlier this year and discovered that for the above average Christian, we are still consuming secular content at a rate of 32:1. For every 32 minutes of secular content, we’re lucky to consume 1 minute of Christ-minded content.

In my podcast, The Jesus Habit, I illustrated that ratio:

If you save 32 cents per minute for every hour of media you consume during ONE day, that would be $211.20. If you save 32 cents per minute for every minute of Jesus time the ABOVE AVERAGE Christian consumes per day, you would have $6.60. Over the course of one 7 day week, that’s $1,478.40 worth of secular media content versus $46.20 of Jesus content. 
Let’s go just one further. Annually, that’s $76,876.80 worth of secular content compared to $2402.40 of Jesus content. 

What’s my point with all the math. My point is simply this. One of those is a life, the other is a hobby. 

http://thejesushabit.com/tjh-0065-dd-a-living-vs-a-hobby/

Many Christians today are treating Jesus as a hobby. The real center of our lives is us and our love of the modern world we live in.

“But,” you may be asking, “there is just so much to deal with, where do we begin?” Well, that’s exactly why I am doing this. I want to help people become like Christ in a Christ-less society.

Our standard approach isn’t working anymore. The model of church we grew up in is no longer producing disciples. No, I’m not saying we abandon church. Quite the opposite actually. The church plays an irreplaceable role in making disciples.

But it’s not enough.

There are no historical precedents for the reality we face every day. We can’t see how our ancestors dealt with the abundance of technology, world-wide information and communication combined with unrestricted access. Right now, too many of us have been captured by culture. Is technology evil? No. But, neither should we be consuming 11 hours of secular programming a day. Our thoughtless acceptance of technology is destroying us. If we don’t change our approach to technology, it will change us.

It already has.

Every morning we wake up to a world that has changed over night. How do we navigate a world that is constantly changing? How do we become like Christ when we’re surrounded by so much Christlessness?

That’s the right question. That’s why I do what I do. That’s why I do The Jesus Habit Podcast, why I do this blog, by I’m a pastor, why I wrote “The Christmas Setup” and why I’m working on other books (Like Christ, coming soon). I believe there are principles we can learn that will help us be able to navigate a rapidly changing world. But, it’s not a simple, 3 step process. Reading this one article won’t be enough. Reading the verse of the day on your YouVersion Bible app isn’t going to cut it. Going to church when it’s convenient, when there are no better options won’t get you very far.

Unfortunately, the church hasn’t been very focused on discipleship for a long time. The church I grew up in didn’t do much for that. In fact, it hasn’t been a big focus in any of the churches I’ve served or attended. We were really focused on attendance and finances. But discipleship, if it existed, was buried beneath the box of flannel-graphs in the corner closet of the basement.

That’s why, for the past 7 years I’ve been studying discipleship. I’ve been studying spiritual formation, habit development and even dabbled in some neuroscience. Because I’m passionate (maybe even desperate) to help people legitimately become like Christ. This is not just the driving force of our church, it’s the mission statement of my life.

“I want to become like Christ, how do I do it and how can I help?” Good question! And I have an answer, but you’re probably not going to like it. Disciples develop daily, not in a day. It’s not what you do on Sunday, but every day that makes you a disciple. There is no easy button. This isn’t Fixer Upper. The Property Brothers can’t renovate your heart in an hour.

This is why I focus more on habit development than content. Content is important, but not as important as developing the right habits. I know that sounds heretical. Good doctrine is important. But, I’ve known a lot of people who know the right doctrine but who’s lives reflect nothing of Christ. At least not the Jesus of the Bible.

So, my goal isn’t to get you dependent on me as a teacher. My goal is to teach you to follow Jesus for yourself. And to teach you to help others follow Jesus. To follow you as you follow Jesus.

“So, how can I help?” You can like my Facebook page (facebook.com/davidlindnerauthor) and stay up to date with teachings, podcasts, books, etc. Not for my vanity. I’m not trying to get famous. I’m trying to make a difference in what I perceive as the biggest problem facing the church today.

The other way you can help is to invite someone to join you. Maybe just one person. Can you invite someone you know might be interested in growing in their walk with Christ to participate with you? Maybe share the Facebook page, or share this post. Or share the podcast. Or, listen to the podcast with someone and talk about it on your coffee break. Or read the Christmas book (or listen to the audio version on this website for free) with someone and talk about Love, Hope, Peace and Joy.

This isn’t about selling books. It’s about helping people become like Christ. I’ll give you a book for free if you promise to read it with someone.

You never know, the person you invite might be the person who was about to give up. And they might know someone who doesn’t even know Christ at all, but because of your invitation and the way following Christ changed them, someone that doesn’t know Christ was able to see Christ through them, something that wouldn’t have happened.

If we get enough people to look less like Adam (this culture we are immersed in) and more Like Christ, maybe we’ll start to hear more stories about truly lost and hopeless people finding hope because of the life someone lived in their presence.