We all know chameleons change their colors based on their environments. There is a popular brand of Christianity today that says certain environments are more spiritual than others while also dictating where one should be spiritual and where we are excused from showing our faith. We need to understand why such behavior is dangerous and not at all what Jesus brought to mankind. Find out if you are a “chameleon Christian.”

We move from our birthright identity of being a child of God to defining our identity from what we do. When our spiritual communion with God was disconnected, it was our minds that defined who we were. Our bodies defined who we were. Our activities defined who we were. Instead of identity being defined from inside out, it started being defined from outside in.

What we achieve is what we become. What we possess is what we become. What people think of us is what we become. Identity becomes a sum total of what we do, what people think of us, and what we think about ourselves. Identity becomes a sum total of feelings, emotions, and circumstances. The identity of man became defined through our minds, emotions, bodies, circumstances, and possessions, not from being a child of God, which was and is defined in the realm of the spirit. This translocation and movement of man from an ecosystem of spiritual intimacy to one of spiritual orphan-hood led to a series of consequences.

In religion, behavior started defining the spirituality of man. Going to a church, temple, or mosque feels very spiritual. In those places mankind’s emotions came to feel the most connected to God. Such a spirituality triggered in man is based solely on circumstances and locations. But when man moves from those places, when man moves from one setting to another setting, the reality of whom he was, which was mind and body, started coming to the forefront. This is why we see a tremendous gap between what happens within a church on a Sunday and what happens in a home or an office Monday through Friday.

In religion, the identity of spirituality becomes defined more from outside in than from inside out. We become chameleons who can change our colors. We change our behaviors based on external circumstances, because our spiritual identity is defined only by external circumstances and locations, not by any inner constant.