Joe goes to church every Sunday with his family, he helps with the youth group on Wednesday nights (partly to keep an eye on his son), and serves on the building committee, but his prayer life and Bible reading are restricted only to the time he is in the church building.  Outside of the church, nobody at his work knows whether or not Joe is a Christian, they just know he is a funny guy who is just like them.

Cathy is a busy single mom and frequently works on Sundays, thereby missing church a lot.  All of her co-workers know she is different, both because of her conduct and because of her frequent comments about her faith.  She gives what she can to the church and she spends Saturday mornings at the food pantry showing her daughter what it means to serve the poor.   She keeps mostly to herself as her time is very precious, but she always prays and reads the Bible before going to bed.  She never lets the worries of the day seperate her from God and she is always thankful for what God has given to her.

From the fellow church-goers perspective, Joe appears to be a much stronger Christian than Cathy, but is that really the case?  Does being a Christian mean that you adhere to the set of traditions popularized in America over the past 2 centuries or does it mean that in everything you do, you desire for your life to be a sweet aroma to God?