When counter-culturalism is equated to godliness....

....I think we have a problem.

I was reading an interesting post of Jenny's here about how some parenting choices appear to be viewed as "more" or "less" Christian. She pointed out quite rightly that being part of God's family depends on faith in Jesus and his saving work through his death for our sins. That's it.

It was a good message for me to hear. I've felt for quite some time that because the choices we've made as a family are not quite as counter-cultural as those made by other Christians we know, that maybe we're perceived as a bit less godly than other people. We send our kids to the local public school, I'm a working mother, my three year old goes to child care, we don't follow strict routines with our little people (I even threw the book "Babywise" in the bin because I thought it was so bad). Our house looks pretty untidy most of the time. My husband and I share cooking, housework and child care jobs at home.

Possibly I'm being a bit oversensitive here. I might be feeling a bit more defensive than usual because a couple of church friends told me recently that they are going to start homeschooling their children. Whenever I hear things like this, I have moments of questioning the choices we've made. Sometimes I even feel like I have to work extra hard to serve at church so I can prove that these choices don't impact on my ability to live as a Christian. How silly is that?

But I have to remember that we are accountable not to other people but to God alone. He is the One we serve and will need to answer to in the future. The choices we make should be made in the light of His Word, not what all the other Christians we know are doing. And if we stopped judging one another (and if I am honest with myself, I have judged others for their choices too....) perhaps we could all concentrate much better on how we can serve God and other people.