In a recent Tweet, John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN, quoted G. K. Chersterton who said:

Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.

I of course, liking the quote retweeted it and then added the following:

Many have tried the Christian religion. But have they really tried a Christ relationship?

After reading these you might say, “I tried Christianity and it did not work.”  But the question I have is this: are you sure?  Many people are born into the faith in a sociological way.  Their parents were Christians; maybe just one parent was a Christian.  They went to church, were baptized either as an infant, a small child or teenager.  They did the whole Sunday school thing and went to the youth group activities.  Maybe you even gave money and told people that if they prayed for forgiveness they could be a Christian too.

But while all of that is fine, is it really a relationship with someone.  Let me use the illustration that both Christ and Paul used for the Christian relationship – marriage.  I met my wife and thought she was great.  I proposed and about 19 months and five days later we were married.  I know that’s not an about.  But on our marriage day we made a vow to “forsake all others” and be committed “till death do us part.”  I was serious and so was she.  Since then we spend part of every single day talking. I cannot remember a single day when we didn’t say at least something to one another either face to face or by phone if one of us were away.  We support each other, get mad at each other, and give to one another – usually with her giving more than me.  But we are in a relationship.

Sadly, many couples drift apart and eventually end their marriage.  What happens is one or both become more committed to something else and stop investing personally in the commitment.  The relationship starts to suffer and becomes more of a chore than a joy.  As that happens less and less effort is put into maintaining it.  The result is an eventual break, either emotionally but usually legally.

When that happens you have ask what went wrong?  Were they sincere in their vows to stay married till death, in sickness an in health, for richer, for poor, etc.?  Well obviously not totally because they ended it.  What the meant at that time (often unknowingly) is that they were committed until …  Until what?  Until something better came along or until it got too hard or until the other one quit fulfilling my every need and desire.  My point is that if you make a real life-long commitment it will last for your entire life.  One party in that relationship might have made that commitment, but the other didn’t.  Sometimes neither do.

When a person makes a commitment to Christ, they are not just accepting the forgiveness part of the relationship.  They are committing themselves to Christ from now on. And this is not a commitment until death. It is a commitment long past death.  So you have to ask yourself something.  If you make a real commitment to Christ can that commitment ever end.  Paul said, “Love never ends” in 1 Corinthians 13:8 (Holman CSB).  Too many people are accepting the benefits of the Christian religion without accepting the commitment to Christ.

So, if you tried Christianity and it came up lacking, then ask yourself if you tried a Christian commitment.  God knows the difference. Do you?