Christian Matters
Christian Failure
After being a Christian for over 20 years, I’m convinced there are many reasons why our faith is faltering—but one stands out as especially critical.
Imagine a person sentenced to life in prison, awaiting the death penalty. Then, their lawyer finds a way to secure an early release—on one condition: the prisoner must truly change and be reformed. Now imagine the lawyer says, “I can help free others too, if they’re willing to be reformed. All you have to do is tell them there’s a way out.”
But instead of sharing the good news, the prisoner forgets their own upcoming freedom. They say nothing. They return to their old prison routine, doing their best to enjoy life behind bars—just like before, as if nothing had changed. The prison becomes their version of Club Med, and all they care about is making their life inside as comfortable as possible.
Or picture a soldier sent to war who refuses to engage in battle. Instead of stepping onto the battlefield, he hides in the comfort of his tent. He complains about the discomfort and begins focusing on how to improve his surroundings. Eventually, he builds a pool, a tennis court, a cozy den, a library, a game room—even a man cave—turning a warzone into a personal retreat.
How can either of these men make a real difference—whether inside the prison, where they could bring hope to others, or on the battlefield, where they’re called to fight? How will they grow, or ever test their faith, if they never face real challenges? How can the training they’ve received for battle matter if they never step onto the field? And if their lives are defined by ease, how will they remember they were ever prisoners or warriors in the first place?
This is where many Christians fall short. God saves us from the prison of sin and the grip of this world. Then He sends us back—not to blend in, but to stand out as soldiers in the fight of faith. Yet rather than engaging in the spiritual battle, we return to the world and aim to live our best, most comfortable lives. We invest our energy into turning life into our own spiritual Club Med.
All the Bible studies, sermons, and small groups become fuel for improving our worldly comfort rather than tools for spiritual warfare. As a result, we don’t grow. Our faith remains untested—weak, fragile, and lacking courage. We've never truly entered the fight, so we have no idea what God can do in the heat of battle—because we’ve never dared to step into it.
The Bible tells us not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). Yet if we’re still living for the world, our minds aren’t being renewed—they’re being shaped by the very world God delivered us from. We’re being molded not by Christ, but by Satan, who lures us with distractions and counterfeit comforts that keep us spiritually numb and stuck in darkness.
In this condition, our growth is stifled. The truth we learn becomes self-serving instead of soul-transforming. What was meant to make us self-sacrificing becomes selfish—used to enhance our own lives instead of building God’s kingdom. When knowledge stops producing surrender and obedience, it becomes hollow—information that fails to bear eternal fruit.
