Galatians 6

Where I grew up, it was common to hear something along the lines of, "Good Christian boys/girls don't do that." There was an expectation of what a Christian looks like on the outside. Either through behavior or clothing or tidiness, and while all of those things may be important socially, what do they have do with salvation? Does God really care what you look like on the outside? And who are you trying to impress with your outward appearance anyway?

Just like with the Galatians, there are churches today that want to project a certain image to society. They want their members to behave a certain way and look a certain way and dress a certain way to give the appearance of what Christians should be, but does that really reflect what God desires of us? I think it's generally a substitute for not inviting others to a relationship with God. If someone doesn't look like you or follow the same rules that you follow, then you don't have to talk to them or build a relationship with them because they are not "Christian," and we don't hang out with people of the world. It gets rationalized as that they will want to follow our rules when the "Spirit" convicts them, so until then it's not my fault, but is the Spirit ever really going to convict them of anything except needing a relationship with Christ?

To me it's like the boycotts that you hear about in churches from time to time. They say, don't shop at such and such store today because they are paying benefits to homosexuals, and we don't want to give the appearance of supporting that. There's that concern with our own appearance again rather than a concern with building relationships with those that need Christ. And there's that picking and choosing the Law again, too. Today we can't go there because homosexuality is a sin, but yesterday when they were paying benefits to liars, cheaters, thieves (every retail store has at least one), etc. it was okay because those parts of the Law don't apply?

You can't pick and choose and you can't earn your way to salvation by trying to impress other people. It's not a popularity contest and if it were it wouldn't be decided by the rest of the people that lost. This is all about God, Jesus, and an internal change in your heart to put your faith in Christ. Period. All of the rest follows on its own when you focus on Christ and not on the opinions of others.