What’s essential to living a good Christian life?

        I must be strong.

        I must be consistent.

        I must be organized.

        I must be a good hostess.

        I must study my Bible diligently.

        I must be a good cook.

        I must be a (good) wife.

        I must place others first.

        I must be attractive.

        I must be sacrificial to others.

        I must be forgiving.

        I must stay calm.

        I must have the answers.

        I must share my faith with people.

        I must_____________________________.

You might not agree with everything on this list, and you likely have more to add. Perhaps you haven’t actually thought about what you’d put on a checklist, but what does your day to day behavior and decisions reflect? Why do you do what you do? What’s essential? What are your obligations and responsibilities? What standard are you trying to live up to?

The problem is that when we try to transfer our faith to a checklist of behaviors, we make living faith out loud easy…or impossible, depending on how we create our lists.

Consider how you define sin. If you define it by just the “biggies,” you might find it pretty easy not to sin, so you could claim a sort of distorted perfection. However, the definition of biblical sin doesn’t match up to how you personally prefer to define sin.

The same is true with your “what I need to do to be a good Christian woman” checklist. You can create a list that is easy to attain, such as “Try my best.”

Check.

Or you can create a list that stretches you but reflects more of your ideal set of behavior, and you’ll always find an unchecked box on your checklist.

If you insist on creating a checklist to achieve a life of faith, get used to there being an unchecked box…or several. If you’re seeking God’s will and growing in your faith, he will always be challenging you, revealing areas in which you can grow. If you’re hard on yourself, always having unchecked boxes might be maddening to you. But every unchecked box is an invitation to grow.

God doesn’t really operate by checklists. He knows how legalistic we can become; after all, Jesus himself had to regularly deal with the Pharisees.

Relationship trumps checklists.

And relationships are tricky, including your relationship with God. Relationships take investment and intention. It’s not just about doing something and checking a box. It’s about questions, instruction, correction, guidance, interactions. Relationships require intentional investment.

So confess your inner checklist Christian, and embrace the reality of being a Christ-follower. It’s a lot more productive!

Jesus answered, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. The only way to the Father is through me.” (John 14:6)