So Christ Died For Me - So What?

So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.

- Galatians 5:1, NLT

There are two big holidays in modern day Christianity: Christmas and Easter. On those two days each year, church attendance surges, causing a sharp increase in the service time offerings, need for volunteers, and exhaustion of church staff everywhere. One study conducted in 2022 showed that roughly 30% of Americans identify as going to a religious service at least several times per month. Using the 2020 U.S. Census data as the foundation for those numbers with an American population of 331,449,281, this amounts to roughly 99 million people making the near-weekly pilgrimage to their local church.

Not on Easter and Christmas, however. A Rasmussen poll in 2022 showed that roughly 42% of Americans planned to attend an Easter Sunday service that year. This is an increase of around 40 million Americans strolling into their neighborhood sanctuary looking for a dose of hope and community to last them a few months until Christmas. That’s 40 million people who claim to want to sing songs and listen to a message describing how a man died over 2,000 years ago as a sacrifice to save them from their own certain death and set them free to live differently today. If that isn’t enough to make you appreciate the work your church’s staff and pastors put into Easter, there’s more.

A study published in 2015 by Lifeway Research showed that 61% of Americans planned to attend a church service during the Christmas season. For reference, this is a little over 202 million people every year who want to attend a service that inherently honors the birth of someone they claim was born to save the world from sin. This is an increase of weekly church attendance by 103 million people. That’s million with an ‘m.’ That’s just in America. That’s for just one day each year.

Why did I just share all that research and number crunching? Why does it matter to you and me?

Well, we recently celebrated Easter Sunday and for many of us it was an exciting day filled with family, friends, and good food. We sang a few songs in church, were reminded of what the cross and resurrection means to us, and hopefully had the chance to take an afternoon nap. And by Wednesday of that same week, we’ve either forgotten the impact it had on us, or willfully chosen not to make the changes in our own lives that God gently beckons us to make. Either way, we find ourselves on the way to sliding back into the same rhythm of self-deprecating destruction and either unable or unwilling to change course. We find ourselves sitting among crowds in church, either weekly or semi-annually, worshipping a God who we do not understand and who has no lasting impact on our hearts. We become trapped in a rhythm of feeling hopeful and free during pivotal moments throughout the year but returning to a state of enslavement mere days afterwards.

So, how do we disrupt this habit, act upon the reality that Christ died for us, and live free? This is a simple question with a very complex answer, but here’s a few ideas to get you started:

1. Mind the media

We all recognize that what we eat affects the functioning of our bodies. I have an affinity for bacon and Reese’s and I could eat them all day, but I don’t because I want to live more than just another few years. Many of us have bought into the lie that, for some reason, what we put into our minds doesn’t affect us. Music, video games, movies, TV shows, social media scrolling, and even news stories all have an impact on our mental and emotional states, as well as our motivation for change. If you find yourself stuck in a rut and unable to grow past whatever plateau you are on, consider what you are allowing your mind to consume. Is there a TV show you enjoy binge watching but that serves only as a distraction? Are the music lyrics on your favorite playlist glorifying behaviors that are unhealthy? Does reading your preferred news website cause you to feel enraged all day? Making small changes about what we consume can have a major impact on how we feel.

2. Slow down

A 2022 study conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that American full-time workers had, on average, 5.4 hours of free time per day. This equates to 324 minutes that we don’t know what to do with, or roughly 10 episodes of our favorite binge-worthy TV show. Everyday. Did you just look at your calendar and laugh because you are just trying to figure out when you’ll finally have time to mow the front yard or get caught up on laundry? Me too. A survey might show that we have more time than we know what to do with but in reality our schedules are filled to the brim with with work, parenting, volunteering, cleaning, cooking, and then some leftover time to sleep. What little bit of leisure time we gift to ourselves is often devoted to mindlessly checking out on life just to find a moment of brief respite. How can we possibly take intentional steps towards living a more healthy and spiritually whole life if we are always trying to keep up? The answer is, quite obviously, that we can’t. This is the exact reason why God urges us to observe the sabbath. To take an entire day where we let the lawn grow a bit longer, the dishes pile up a bit higher, and the laundry get a bit dirtier; a day for us to rest from our work so that we can take full advantage of that rested state tomorrow. Making room for a weekly sabbath takes time and intentionality, but slowing down and de-cluttering our calendars is an essential part of living a healthy life. We simply cannot expect to live in a state of perpetual hope and freedom if we are always moving from one task to the next.

3. Don’t go alone

An old African proverb is usually given credit for saying, “if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” In 2019, U.S. health-insurer Cigna commissioned a study that showed 61% of Americans report feeling lonely on a regular basis. This means three out of every five Americans lack the interconnected relationships in their lives to help them go far, get better, break bad habits, and share authentically about their emotional and mental states of health. If you fit into this categorical statistic, recognize the irony that you’re not alone – and then take steps to change it. Take the courageous step of asking an acquaintance out for coffee to develop the relationship, or pick up a new hobby like pickleball and invite a neighbor along for the journey. We all need friends to support, encourage, and correct us, despite many of us feeling as though we don’t have the requisite skills to develop those friendships. The reality is the only way to have friends is to make them. So, go make some.

If we are all honest with ourselves, this life is distracting. I have a difficult time working on anything less than five tasks at any given moment and when it is time to turn it all off at night, my mind is not always on board. I bet your life is similar. When it comes to our faith and being obedient to how God is calling us to live, the isolation, fast pace, and packed nature of our lives all have a detrimental effect on our long-term spiritual health and growth. Being mindful about what we allow ourselves to mentally consume, living at an intentional pace and rhythm, and fully integrating our lives with those around us will give you the best shot of no longer searching for a semi-annual dose of hope at Easter and Christmas but living in a state of perpetual hope all year long.

For more tips on living healthy and free, follow Josh on Instagram and Facebook, and subscribe to his blog to get it delivered right to your inbox.

Sources:

More Americans Will Attend Church This Easter - Rasmussen Reports®

No Place Like Church for the Holidays - Lifeway Research

American Time Use Survey Summary - 2022 A01 Results (bls.gov)

cigna-2020-loneliness-factsheet.pdf