Hollowed Out: The Christianity We See vs. The Christianity We Feel
- Sarah Shaw
- Oct 9
- 5 min read
Updated: Oct 11
I'm a fan of lemonade.
Homemade lemonade, to be precise.
Back in high school, during my peak years of lemonade making, I was assembling my ingredients. As I reached into the bag of fresh lemons, I pulled one out and immediately said,
“I think it’s hollow.”
My mom looked at me like I was crazy.
I returned the stare, equally surprised.
I'd blurted it out without thinking.
But that was the sensation: hollowness.
We inspected the lemon.
The skin glistened.
It smelled divine.
It was Chick-fil-a-approved by all visible metrics.
But when I weighed it in my hand, wild of a statement as it was, I said again,
"I really think it's hollow."
Out came the knife and the cutting board. One slice and I was proved right.
The entire inside was shriveled up. My mom and I both starred in shock.
Somehow, entirely unblemished, it was indeed a hollow lemon.
I had sensed right.
Now let’s talk about Christianity.
WHEN CHRISTIANITY HOLLOWS OUT
Like weighing the lemon in my hand, many of us have encountered Christian spaces that feel empty. What’s disorienting is the sense of emptiness amidst smiling people, beautiful buildings, and accredited leaders.
Maybe for some of us, the emptiness has moved from invisible to visible: emptying pews, crumbling buildings, and pastoral scandals.
Hollow Christianity takes many shapes.
What we really want to highlight is this: it’s easy to spot decay once the decay becomes visible.
But when the outside still looks fine, encountering hollow Christian spaces can feel like a form of gaslighting.
We sense something is wrong, even though everything looks right. We may not be able to point and prove our suspicion, but we feel it. Trying to stuff that unease often leads to a platitude like, “Don’t judge.”
Before we go any further, I want to note: a post like this can sound antagonistic toward the Church. That’s not the aim. Health and healing are. We do a disservice to the Church when we put her above the need for edification. Jesus was constantly giving feedback and course correction—especially to religious leaders.
As He warned:
27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Matthew 23:27-28 (NIV)
It sounds like hollowness begins with hypocrisy.
IDENTIFYING HYPOCRISY
Here’s where finger pointing gets even more tempting. Hypocrisy is one of those "churchy" words we can skim past or get stuck on. Everyone's got it, but us.
And if we're honest, it's a lot more comfortable to be the one doing the pointing than it is to be the one being pointed at.
So, how does Jesus teach us to identify hypocrisy?
By starting with ourselves, ironically enough.
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:3-5 (NIV))
Planks don't always feel like planks. And admitting planks are present is always an uncomfortable process. But it's also a healing one.
We say, if it is not good, it is not the end a lot around here. But we also say something else.
You cannot heal what you cannot name,
And you cannot name what you do not notice.
Noticing? Check. Naming? Let’s start.
WHERE DOES HOLLOWNESS SHOW UP IN YOU?
Here is a preliminary list:
01/ You're Stuck Going through the Motions:
Your body may be present in church on Sundays and Wednesday nights, but your heart checked out, if it was ever checked in. Christianity is more of a hobby. Maybe even a business deal. A way of looking acceptable to your community. A baseline "good person" activity. You get the gist. If Jesus Himself, in the flesh, walked into the room, it would be disruptive, to say the least.
02/ Your Christianity has Warped Into Legalism
The focus is on rules and appearances rather than developing a robust relationship with God. And if we get down to the root of it, it's more about fear than faith. The appearances and the rules matter to us so much because we're afraid of what will happen socially and spiritually if we mess up.
03/ You're Course-Corrected by Shame, Not the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit convicts, but he does not shame. Shame is the internal belief that, I am bad. It is a splitting, disconnecting sensation. And when we try to "behave" by shaming ourselves or assume it is God saying to us "you're stupid," "you idiot," "you just can't ever get it right..." That's not how He talks. If that's what you hear, it sounds like your internal monologue, or even your church's voice, is tuned by shame. Not love.
04/ You See Christianity as Your Way Out (AKA Escapism)
Being a Christian was never a pass to disengage from this world. We are called to be salt and light, fully connected and engaged with living this life well this side of eternity. And we seek the welfare of others too. If you're in an environment that is only shouting about heaven, chances are high you're going to feel empty.
05/ God is Theoretical, Not Relational
The more conceptual God is, the more unfulfilling a relationship with Him will feel. And there's no getting around that. Unfortunately, we have a knack for intellectualizing our faith. We come at everything with fact and logic. We're "reasonable" Christians, even. But a relationship is an entirely different thing than a thought process. God is not satisfied with us thinking about him. He's after reconnection with us. Dwelling with us. Forever.
Daydreaming won't cut it.
WHERE'S THE GOOD NEWS IN ALL THIS?
So many of us are sick of hollow Christianity. We're sick of the games. The pretending. The scandals. We feel the pain of hypocrisy.
And the good news also comes from Jesus Himself.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10 NIV)
He is after fullness, not hollowness.
And He has not remotely given up.
So don't lose heart. Not all lemons are hollow. Christianity wasn't meant to be either. We'll dig deeper in future content, so stay tuned!
