Checkbox Christianity

By Daniel Francis

I’m a systematic, habit-driven person. I tend to do things at the same time in the same way. I do things in this way to nurture my healthy habits and continually add value to myself so I can attract the success that I want.

Recently, I’ve been looking deeper at what I do and how much thought I put into my actions. Are my actions intentional or am I simply checking things off my checkbox just to say I did them?

It’s one thing to say you completed a task, but it’s a completely different thing to say you completed a task with intention.

For example, yes you went to the gym, but what did you accomplish? You walked on the treadmill for a few minutes and chatted with your gym mates the rest of the time. You can check gym off the list for today, but did it help you move closer to accomplishing your health goals?

You set aside time to study for that big exam and yes, you sat down for that allotted time but how much time did you spend studying? How much of that time was spent scrolling through social media and getting distracted by things around you? You can check studying off the list for that day, but did it help bring you closer to accomplishing your educational goals?

Did you notice that with all these activities there is a goal in mind? When we lose sight of the goal, the intention behind the activity becomes lost.

Then there is our spirituality. You went to church, you read your Bible, and you prayed. You can now check these things off your checklist but how intentional were you during these activities?

Were you doing them just to say you did them or were you truly intentional during the act? I have found myself guilty of this. Checking the boxes of the activities I set out to do, especially those connected to my faith, but not truly being intentional while doing them.

What I lose when I approach my faith like this are the spiritual goals I set out to achieve: to grow closer to God, to better understand His Word, and to become a better Christian.

The harsh truth is that sometimes when you and I go to church, we are there but we are not truly there. We went to see a fake vision of God created in our minds to help us justify living the life we want to live but not the life God wants us to live.

If we were truly present, we would know that the Church is where the broken go to heal and we would be honest about what ails us and ask for help. Yet that is a very difficult thing to do. It means we would have to admit that we don’t want truth or healing, but we want to continue to perpetuate this superficial expression of faith that we exude.

When we operate in this way, we get to say we did all the right things because yeah, we went to church. However, when we leave, we are pulled right back into sin. The impact of spiritual activities is low because we lack intention.

We tell ourselves in these moments that we are living okay, but we can’t live how we want to live and call ourselves true Christians because a life not guided by God is led by sin.

We must snap out of this mirage and see where we stand. Are we truly intentional with our actions? Are we trying to grow closer to God by our actions? Are we checking the boxes off our list just to say that they are being done?

If we are living a Checkbox Christian life, what will we do to change? The answer is clear. Be more intentional with your actions. Ensure that your actions align with your goals to grow closer to God.

With that in mind, it’s difficult to simply go through the motions. Be intentional today and every day.

Daniel Francis is a millennial helping other millennials. He is a two-time author of the books The Millennial Mind and The Millennial Experience, and an entrepreneur. Over the past four years, he has served as a Personal Development Coach whose work targets Millennials and helps them tap into their full potential. He is also a self-publishing coach and has guided hundreds on self-publishing their book successfully.

LinkedIn: Daniel Francis

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Email: themillennialmind2020@gmail.com