I am sure that many of us lament the fact that the thoughts, attitudes and behaviours of many professing Christians seem to be indistinguishable from those of many who make no profession of faith in Christ.

The danger for the preacher here is that he encourages moralism: “You think you’re a Christian, then you really ought to … more.”

In order to avoid moralism, Randall Pelton finds it helpful to put the matter like this:-

‘When you trust Christ it changes the way you think about…’

(Fill in the blank, according to however the passage you are preaching from may be applied to the Christian life.

For example, in preaching the Parable of the Shrewd Manager in Luke 16, the preacher might say, ‘When you trust Christ it changes the way you think about money.  Faith in Christ creates a person who uses money to make disciples.’