Agreement. Harmony.

Congruence is not perfection. It is integrity. It is the honest pursuit of allowing our inner life with Christ to shape our outward actions in the world. When your beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors are aligned, then you have achieved congruence.

This is the place where we experience peace, joy, and genuine rest. It is where we can accept love, hear constructive advice, and live without fear.

One quest for a follower of Jesus is to find congruence in their life. Whenever we are out of alignment in one area, we are required to change to bring everything back into order. Sometimes that means correcting our beliefs, but usually it means changing our thought life or a particular behavior.

If you are tired, stressed, and anxious, it is usually because you have lost the harmony and agreement in your life. Incongruence creates tension in the soul. We feel it when our words outpace our obedience, when our public faith does not match our private practices, or when our convictions stay theoretical rather than lived. Over time, that tension leads to weariness, cynicism, and even hypocrisy.

The gospel offers a better way. Jesus doesn’t invite us to work harder, but to come back into alignment with Him. Congruence isn’t about having it all together; it’s about honestly bringing our whole lives under His lordship.

In that place of alignment, we discover the peace the world cannot give.