I’ve had a seed of thought that a Christian life lived well, by proxy, benefits everyone around it. There is no other way. The problem is that many are not living a good life.

I don’t mean a good Christian life in the sense of reading your Bible more, praying more often, or attending church.

This article isn't about preaching to the choir or judging the world.

• It's about exploring the tangible impact Christians can have when they strive to live out their faith with intention and authenticity.
• It's about recognizing the undeniable truth that when Christians strive to be better, their efforts reach far beyond the pews.
• It's about recognizing that our journey towards Christ-like living creates a brighter, kinder world for everyone.

So, how does a Christian live better? This article will break down four things: a healthy mind, a disciplined body, consistent spiritual habits, and a strong community.

Everyone Benefits When Christians Have Healthy Minds.

The mind is the bedrock of the human experience and the central information network we process daily.

According to NPR, The human brain can process 11 million bits of information every second. But our conscious minds can handle only 40 to 50 bits of information a second.

I can’t really quantify that number, but it seems like a lot. So, if the mind is the central center and we can input an enormous amount of information at a time, I cannot imagine a more appropriate place for evil to seep into our lives.

Corrie ten Boom once said that if Satan can’t make you sin, he’ll make you busy. There’s truth in that. Both sin and busyness have the same effect – they cut off your connection to God, to other people, and even to your own soul.

Satan’s strategy to win the battle for your mind is to get you to believe lies. Believing a lie will hold you back from doing what God’s calling you to do.

There are so many ways the mind will pull us, but the vast majority of them can be summed up in one word: lies.

• Lies of shame.
• Lies about mistakes.
• Lies of the future.
• Lies in relationship dynamics.
• Lies about yourself.

In every town, the great magician Houdini thrilled crowds with his escapes.

He'd waltz into jails, let them lock him up, and be free in minutes. But one jailer had a surprise. When Houdini closed the cell door, the jailer put the key in the lock and secretly turned it in the wrong direction.

Houdini struggled, frustrated, and convinced he was trapped. Finally, in defeat, he admitted he couldn't escape. The jailer revealed the lie: the lock was a trick. Houdini, the master of escapes, had fallen for a lie that had imprisoned him.

The point is simple. Believing lies about our worth, past shame, and whispers of inadequacy can hold back our lives, just like believing that a fake lock trapped Houdini. But like Houdini, we can break free by recognizing these lies and choosing the truth.

Commit to some personal lie detection to experience the abundant life Jesus came and died to give you.

Everyone Benefits When Christians Are Motivated And Disciplined Correctly.

Imagine you have a pebble in your shoe that makes running particularly painful, but you told your friend you would run over to their place for dinner.

You’re in a tight space. You want to make it to his house on time, but you know the run will be painful.

Motivation convinces you that the dinner will be exciting and worth the pain as you race towards your destination, only to collapse on the road halfway there. Looking down at your swelling foot, you realize motivation was not enough to get you there.

Discipline convinces you that you’ve committed to this dinner and are the kind of person who keeps their word. So you run to your friend's house, the pebble breaking the delicate skin of your sole. You make it on time, but you have a bloody stump of a foot that distracts you the entire dinner.

Motivation and discipline are powerful, but they're not miracle cures. Just like that pesky pebble, they can push us towards a goal until the underlying issue bites back.

In life's marathon, motivation is the cheering crowd, and discipline is the steady pace, but neither can make us forget a pebble embedded in our shoe.

The real solution? Stop, take a breath, and ditch the pebble.

Ask yourself: Why is this goal so frustrating and so riddled with discomfort? Is it truly a good fit, or am I forcing myself down a path paved with unnecessary suffering?

It might seem obvious in our pebble-in-the-shoe scenario, yet we often race through life with metaphorical stones weighing us down. We chase relationships that leave us bruised and jobs that crush our spirit, all because we haven't paused to remove the discomfort at its source.

So, the next time a nagging pain or persistent resistance feels like it's impeding your progress, stop and pay attention. Don't just push through, hoping motivation or discipline will magically smooth the path.

For me, I decided to break my 5 a.m. wake-up routine two times each week. I’m a father of two young boys and needed more energy for them at the end of the day. So I now “sleep in" on Fridays and Saturdays.

Everyone Benefits When Christians Form Consistent Spiritual Habits That Stick.

I wonder how many of you started this year with something you wanted to change about your spiritual habits.

• Spend more time in God’s word.
• Pray more.
• More quality time with other Christ followers.
• Less gossip.

We all want change, at least in some of our lives. But let me ask you this: how is it going?

According to a study of 40 million people, it’s not going that well for many people. In fact, the second Friday in January is considered Quitter’s Day. That is, it’s the day that most people quit the goals they had set merely two weeks prior.

But the good news is that you’re not alone—not even alone with the 40 million others who quit this year. The Apostle Paul also understands what it’s like to try to do the right thing but not do the right thing. 

In fact, his words and scripture give me a lot of comfort. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. - Romans 7:15. 

Paul is just as surprised as you are at his inability to change. But Paul realizes something in this section that is the secret to any change you want to see in your life.

Real change is not behavior modification. Real change is spiritual transformation.

And this is where the rest of the world misses it entirely.

All of the self-help books and motivational speakers will hone in on behavior modification, which is all well and good. We’re obviously talking about changing our behavior.

But that is not where we start.

We are spiritual beings, and as Christians, we have the power of God's Spirit in us to make the changes that we so desperately want to see in our lives.

To undergo a spiritual transformation, you have to make it spiritual.

So here’s what happened: the new year has rolled around, and you said I want to change . . . fill in the blank. And you’re going to know why you want to change that thing.

Because I am tired of wearing fat jeans. I want to wear skinny jeans. That’s your current why.

And then you’re going to have your how. You’ll join a CrossFit gym, gather up a walking buddy, or go on a strict diet. This is your how.

And every goal-setting book, guru, and motivational poster will emphasize those two things. You need your why, and you need your how.

But here is the secret. We’re not looking for behavior modification. We’re looking for spiritual transformation. You must add a spiritual element to the change you want. You want a spiritual why. You want a spiritual how.

Definition

• Your spiritual why is God’s purpose for you.
• Your spiritual how is God‘s power through you.

So how does this play out?

• If you want to get better with your money: Everything that I have comes from God, and one of the best ways I could worship and honor him is by stewarding wisely and managing his resources to a point where I’m not just trying to pay my bills, but I can be a blessing to people around me?
• If you want to read more books: I want to read more books because everyone benefits when Christians get better. And we can get better not just in our bodies or our faith but also in our minds. As a Christian, I need to use the mind that God has given me to solve problems, love more deeply, or have a wider worldview. So I want to read more books, so I have to use the mind God gave me.
• If you want to spend less time on your phone: How loving are you staring at a screen? So your spiritual why might be to love God. I want to be more engaged with the people I love, not just double clicking on the latest image they posted. I want to be more engaged with the people in my community, so I will spend less time scrolling social media and opening my home in hospitality. I will be more engaged with my family, so whenever I’m home, my phone is away.

We’re not trying; we’re trusting. We trust in the spiritual why, and the spiritual how. We’re trusting in that spiritual power that is outside of us and entirely inside of us by God's Spirit.

Everyone Benefits When Christians Have A Strong Community.

If the years of the pandemic taught us anything, God designed us to be in community. Isolation and seclusion seem so nice in our overconnected world, yet community remains vital.

Have you ever noticed that whenever the Bible talks about believers, it uses metaphors that talk about Christians as a whole community rather than as individuals?

• We need to be connected to the true Vine (John 15:1-8)
• We are one Body (Rom 12:4-5, 1 Cor 1:12-27, Eph 5:23)
• We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession (1 Pet 2:9-10)
• We are a family, a household (1 Tim 3:5, 15)

We come together to remember who we are: We are a group of people who believe in Jesus and follow his teachings. An old Jewish blessing goes something like: "May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi." It means living so close to their wisdom, following their path so tightly, that their teachings become a part of you, as real and unavoidable as the dirt on your skin. Being together reminds us of this and keeps us strong in our faith.

We come together to help each other grow: We all have struggles in life, and it's easier to face them when we have friends who support us. We can share our problems, pray for each other, and give each other advice. This helps us to become more like Jesus.

We come together to serve others: Jesus taught us to love and help others. When we gather, we can find ways to do this together. This could be anything from helping those in need to sharing our faith with others.

We come together to build strong friendships: Truly close and deep friendships are typically based on trust, mutual interests, and the time that was taken to get to know the other person. It can take weeks, months, or years for one of these relationships to form, but they can become some of the most important relationships in life. 

We come together because it's important: Gathering together is not just a nice thing to do. It's essential for our spiritual growth. It's how we stay connected to God and each other. As theologian Francis Schaeffer says, “Our relationship with each other is the criterion the world uses to judge whether our message is truthful—Christian community is the final apologetic.”

Last Thoughts

The ripple effect of a well-lived Christian life spreads far beyond the pews.

A healthy mind discerns truth, disciplined actions pave the path, consistent spiritual habits anchor growth, and strong community provides support.

The world benefits when Christians strive to be better, not through perfection or judgment, but through genuine reflection, intentional action, and the enduring power of faith.

This isn't about claiming superiority or demanding change.

It's about recognizing the impact we can have when we choose kindness, understanding, and service.

Remember, every small act of love, every moment of genuine connection, whispers a hopeful message to the world.

Let's be the living reminders that faith can build a brighter future, together, one step at a time.