Checklist Christianity

Editorials and Columns

March 21, 2026

Everyday Faith

   When I was a little kid, I would often go to the grocery store with my mom to shop for that week’s groceries.  I remember that the  most important item for the shopping trip was the grocery list that she would carry with her in her hand once we got into the store. 

     But, before we ever left the house, Mom would sit down at our kitchen table and go over the list one last time. Often, she would need to get up to open up the refrigerator door to double check and see what was there, as well as the various cabinets to do the same.  

     If my memory serves me correctly, her list would usually be pretty expansive, as she was buying groceries for five of us - three being adolescent boys. You can just imagine the amount of food we would go through. 

     But, once that list was finalized, we would head to our local IGA and commence to shopping.  That list would stay in her hand the whole time as we went aisle by aisle throughout the entire store.  

     Each step of the way, my mom would pull out her pen, and as she picked up the items, each one would get checked off  until the entire list was complete.  As a kid shopping with her, it was painstaking. The only things I really cared about were the chocolate milk and the candy when we got to the counter to check out - hoping for some generosity from her, so that I could pick out a Whatchamacallit candy bar. 

     From a very young age, my mom taught me the value of a checklist, but when I first moved out on my own, I tried shopping from memory just to see if I could do it.   The problem would show itself though when I’d get home and realize that I had forgotten things. It didn’t take long, and I found myself back to using the good ole’ checklist to make sure that I covered my basis.

     Checklists are a great tool for navigating everyday life to make sure tasks get done, but too often, we, as Christians, start applying checklists to our faith as well.  

     You see, in our feeble attempts to be faithful, we can often take pride for our good works that we do.  

     Teaching Sunday School, singing in a worship group, greeting people at the door, or serving as an usher are all good things. Giving to the needy, serving soup to the homeless, helping the elderly - these are all noble deeds.  Some people will do these things out of the kindness of their heart, but sometimes, these same exact things can be done for other motives - self-pride, ‘look at me’ moments, conversation pieces to be shared later on…the list is endless.  

      As Believers in Christ, it’s  good that we read scripture, study it, and know it, but the concepts and principles that are taught there were never meant to be viewed as a checklist.  

     And if you want a case study on checklists, let’s talk about the Jews from the Old Testament. They had 613 laws that they were supposed to follow - 613!  

     It’s interesting that Moses - through God’s inspiration - gave us only ten commandments to follow, and can I ask, ‘How do you think we’ve done in keeping those?’ 

     Over and over again, we see in the Old Testament that the people just couldn’t keep the laws.  They were never able to check all of the boxes.  That’s good in a way, because it takes the pressure off of us, right?  By reading the Old Testament, we should know that none of us today can check the boxes either. 

    But human sinful nature is still human sinful nature.  Doing things for your church or serving the people of your community is good.  As Believers in Christ, we should all be looking for opportunities to ‘love our neighbors’ as a daily part of our lives.  

     The problem is that these actions often are done under duress or obligation, and they simply become part of a checklist.  

     We seem to have this twisted sense too where we silently keep a running tally of what we’ve done, somehow hoping that on the scales of justice, God looks at our pile of deeds in the end and recognizes that my deeds outweigh that of my neighbors.  

     We can take good deeds and ruin the reward of them in a nanosecond, because of our sinful motives behind them.

     Serving and working in the church or in the community as Christ’s ambassador is great, but we need to get something straight.   All of our actions should be out of a heart of gratitude - of thankfulness -  of love.

    Christ gave himself completely up for us on the cross while we were still sinners.  We do owe him everything, and we have no right to claim anything good in and of ourselves.  

     Sometimes it's good to take a step back and reassess what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.

    Our service to our Lord and Savior should be a ‘get to’ and not a ‘got to’.  If you're just keeping tabs and checking the boxes, you have missed the mark of why we serve. 

    ‘Checklist Christianity’ has never cut the mustard, not in the Old or New Testament - and certainly not now.  

     “He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy….” Titus 3:5 (NIV)