Christianity is my religion of choice. Practical Christianity is a lifestyle decision.
I believe in what I call "bare bones Christianity". That is, believing that Jesus Christ is the son of God who came to earth as a man, died for our sins and God raised him from the dead thereby allowing those who believe in Him to have access to God and eternal life. (See John 3:16)
There is much more involved in living a practical Christian life, but without the bare bones it is all just human activity. I Corinthian 13:3 states that I can give all I have to the poor and surrender my body to be burned but without God's love it is all for nothing. Doing good things for other people in our own human strength isn't wrong, it just is temporary. To live a practical Christian life, one must do so with the love of God at the center.
Just what does practical Christianity look like? The easy answer is to say that it looks like Jesus Christ. The next question has to be what did Jesus Christ do?
While Jesus was sinless, he was not condemning. His actions were motivated by the love of God. His heart was toward the common person, the regular, everyday folk who struggled with regular, everyday living. His anger was geared toward those folks who thought too highly of themselves and thought they had a corner on the religious market.
John 8:1-11 gives us an example. While Jesus was teaching people who wanted to learn about the love of the Father, the religious hierarchy (Pharisees) interrupted the lesson by bringing in a woman who was caught in the act of adultery. According to religious law, they had the right to stone her for the sin. Jesus merely said that the person without sin may throw the first stone. The only person present in that crowd who had no sin was Jesus. He didn't even pick up a stone and eventually everyone else left. Jesus told the woman that He didn't condemn her and to sin no more. He wasn't saying the sin was okay. He showed her mercy and the love of a forgiving God. He gave her a way out and a way to find truth.
What would that story look like in today's world? Let's say a woman goes to her pastor, looking for help and confesses that she had an affair. What would the practical Christian action be? The pastor could kick her out of the church. He could gloss over it and tell her to forget about it. Neither one of those suggestions would fit the practical Christian definition.
Since the woman went to the pastor about the situation, it is clear that she already knows she was wrong and is repenting. She doesn't need to be beaten over the head with the Bible nor does she need to be ignored. Nor would it be necessary for the pastor to announce to his associates or board members of the woman's indiscretion.
A gentle word of encouragement from the pastor, prayer, perhaps a suggestion of a woman she could talk with for support and guidance are all that would be needed using our model from the book of John. Most importantly, he would need to make sure that the woman felt accepted as a child of God in spite of her mistakes, just the way Jesus accepted the woman brought to him.
Practical Christianity sounds easy-it is living life with the heart of the Father foremost in one's actions. Easier said than done.
Scripture references are from the Amplified Bible, Zondervan Publishing