Cookie-Cutter Christian

At our teen fall retreat last weekend, our previous summer intern, Dane Berkey, was speaking and used a term I don’t remember ever considering: “cookie-cutter Christian.” He said a friend of his at Freed-Hardeman was concerned because he had been called this term and asked Dane for his advice.

The term caught my attention and I decided to look into it once I was home. From what I can see, this is generally considered a negative term or “limiting” term. What I mean by that is sentiments like “God doesn’t make cookie-cutter Christians” and “I have grown disenchanted with the cookie-cutter Christian approach” are common. Both of those phrases showed up on page 1 of a generic Google search for our term of focus today.

Personally, I like Dane’s take on the term better. While I understand that there are many different personalities in the church, Dane’s response to his friend was something like this: Aren’t people saying that you fit the “shape,” or description, of a Christian to the point that they know what you are?

I love this. In a world so focused on “you be you” and “be younique,” I think it is important to realize that there are some areas where we are called to conform to a standard – God’s standard. Romans 8:29 reads: “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.” What Dane was saying to his friend (if I understood correctly) was to be glad he looked enough like Christ for others to see that!

Yes, there are different personalities, talents, strengths, and weaknesses in the various members of God’s family, His church. But it is still His church and therefore should meet His standards. May we all “become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which [we] were committed” (Romans 6:17) and “be renewed in the spirit of [our] minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:23-24).

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AUTHOR: Amber Tatum