Is It More Important to Believe in Jesus or Live Like Him? (Romans 12)

A Few Thoughts to Consider

Do you find it easier to believe in Jesus or live like Jesus?

There’s a difference between the two. Believing in Jesus is trusting he is who he says he is. He is God; he died on the cross for our sins; he rose again on the third day, and when we repent of our sins and put our trust in him, we receive the gift of eternal life. That’s what it means to believe.

But living like Jesus is a different matter. Unfortunately, there are many who claim the label Christian but have no interest in patterning their lives after him. According to Pew Research, there are around 2.18 billion professing Christians around the globe.[1] This raises the natural question: If there are so many Christians in our world, why is there so much evil and chaos? Why do so many “Christians” live in ways that look nothing like Christ?

The late Mahatma Gandhi famously stated of Christians,

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

And it’s clear he speaks for a large contingent of people today. So why are Christians often so unlike Christ? One of the primary reasons is that instead of following Jesus, many have invited Jesus to follow them. They’ve taken the label of Christian, cherry-picked a few Bible verses they’ve plucked out of context, and leveraged Jesus’ name to perform their agenda.

Author Dan White Jr. writes,

“Evangelicalism[2] has made Jesus so ‘personal’ that he can coexist comfortably alongside powerful ideologies of Consumerism, Individualism, Racism, and Nationalism.”[3]

This list could go on. But what is the solution? The answer is to be conformed to the image of Christ.

The Apostle Paul says in Romans 8:29,

“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

He then goes on to say in Romans 12:1-2: