"And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15 (NKJV)
What does it mean to you to say the words "I am a Christian?" Somehow, I think we would all have a little different answer. And if the question was asked to a non-believer, the answers would be even more diverse. A few months ago, I discovered that I needed to answer that question for myself. I wrote a post on Facebook about the luke-warm Church and making a decision between following after Jesus or the world. (If you would like to read the post, just click on this sentence.) The post was directed primarily at believers and standing up for what is Biblically principled. I don't often choose Facebook as my medium for those things, but I felt like God was asking me to take a stance. I felt like in that moment, He was asking me to make the same choice about which I had just written, and in that decision He started the foundations for what would become this page.
As the next few weeks unfolded, there were some significant political changes that started a new "battle" between the secular world and the church, and even some conflict within the church body. It became increasingly more vital for me to understand what it meant to call myself a Christian. I began to see posts all over social media about "I am a Christian, but I am not... (fill in your own clever adjective here)." The adjectives used in these were typically based on judgement and hypocrisy, as you would expect with a battle such as this, about sins of the flesh versus repentance and redemption. Then I saw a meme that simply stated, "If you are a Christian, but you don't believe in Christ's teachings, then you are not a Christian." Even though I think the idea was a direct stab at the aforementioned posts defining personal Christianity, it did seem pretty profound as I thought about it. But could it really all be that simple?
Yes, foundationally at least. Let's break it down. The word Christian comes from the Greek word Christianos, which means "follower of Christ." I don't know about you, but it seems irrational to me to willingly give up everything to follow a teacher who I believe is a liar. Even Charles Manson's followers believed what he taught them about the world. Belief is necessary to willfully follow. So for the control-freak in me, in order to truly follow Christ, to give up my life for His purpose, with a real desire to have a relationship with Him and align my will with His, I would have to first believe that EVERYTHING He said was truth. This is how I believe Jesus defined to His disciples what it meant to live as a Christian. I must deny myself (allow Him to cleanse me of my flesh), take up my cross (believe that His Words and Life are truth), and follow Him (carry those Words and merge them with every aspect of my life) (Matt. 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23).
Unfortunately, the simplicity of the words don't create the necessary action. It is not easy to live like Christ. He was sinless. An unblemished sacrifice so that we could live in the fullness of joy in a relationship with God. I, regardless of how I want to be, am not sinless. In fact, the only righteousness that can exist in me is by the grace of God the Father through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. My feeble brain still tries to justify a blend of the secular world with the Holy. But "no one can serve two masters; for he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other." (Matt. 6:24) If I live according to the flesh I will die; but if by the Spirit I put to death the deeds of the body, I will live (Romans 8:13). In my heart, I have made the decision to stand on Jesus' Words, and I continue to make the decision every day to follow Christ and not the world. That is what it means to be a Christian. I will not serve the gods of our land. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
God, thank You for sending Your Son so that I can even have the opportunity to be righteous in You. I pray that I never lose sight of what it means to be Your child, and a follower of Christ. That I will always choose Your will over the world, and I will stand firm in Your Word and not let it become convoluted by what culture dictates. Protect the heart of every believer in this world that each one of us will choose You and Your principles, and show Yourself to every unbeliever so that they have the opportunity to choose You for themselves. In Jesus' name, Amen.
What does it mean to you to say the words "I am a Christian?" Somehow, I think we would all have a little different answer. And if the question was asked to a non-believer, the answers would be even more diverse. A few months ago, I discovered that I needed to answer that question for myself. I wrote a post on Facebook about the luke-warm Church and making a decision between following after Jesus or the world. (If you would like to read the post, just click on this sentence.) The post was directed primarily at believers and standing up for what is Biblically principled. I don't often choose Facebook as my medium for those things, but I felt like God was asking me to take a stance. I felt like in that moment, He was asking me to make the same choice about which I had just written, and in that decision He started the foundations for what would become this page.
As the next few weeks unfolded, there were some significant political changes that started a new "battle" between the secular world and the church, and even some conflict within the church body. It became increasingly more vital for me to understand what it meant to call myself a Christian. I began to see posts all over social media about "I am a Christian, but I am not... (fill in your own clever adjective here)." The adjectives used in these were typically based on judgement and hypocrisy, as you would expect with a battle such as this, about sins of the flesh versus repentance and redemption. Then I saw a meme that simply stated, "If you are a Christian, but you don't believe in Christ's teachings, then you are not a Christian." Even though I think the idea was a direct stab at the aforementioned posts defining personal Christianity, it did seem pretty profound as I thought about it. But could it really all be that simple?
Yes, foundationally at least. Let's break it down. The word Christian comes from the Greek word Christianos, which means "follower of Christ." I don't know about you, but it seems irrational to me to willingly give up everything to follow a teacher who I believe is a liar. Even Charles Manson's followers believed what he taught them about the world. Belief is necessary to willfully follow. So for the control-freak in me, in order to truly follow Christ, to give up my life for His purpose, with a real desire to have a relationship with Him and align my will with His, I would have to first believe that EVERYTHING He said was truth. This is how I believe Jesus defined to His disciples what it meant to live as a Christian. I must deny myself (allow Him to cleanse me of my flesh), take up my cross (believe that His Words and Life are truth), and follow Him (carry those Words and merge them with every aspect of my life) (Matt. 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23).
Unfortunately, the simplicity of the words don't create the necessary action. It is not easy to live like Christ. He was sinless. An unblemished sacrifice so that we could live in the fullness of joy in a relationship with God. I, regardless of how I want to be, am not sinless. In fact, the only righteousness that can exist in me is by the grace of God the Father through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. My feeble brain still tries to justify a blend of the secular world with the Holy. But "no one can serve two masters; for he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other." (Matt. 6:24) If I live according to the flesh I will die; but if by the Spirit I put to death the deeds of the body, I will live (Romans 8:13). In my heart, I have made the decision to stand on Jesus' Words, and I continue to make the decision every day to follow Christ and not the world. That is what it means to be a Christian. I will not serve the gods of our land. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
God, thank You for sending Your Son so that I can even have the opportunity to be righteous in You. I pray that I never lose sight of what it means to be Your child, and a follower of Christ. That I will always choose Your will over the world, and I will stand firm in Your Word and not let it become convoluted by what culture dictates. Protect the heart of every believer in this world that each one of us will choose You and Your principles, and show Yourself to every unbeliever so that they have the opportunity to choose You for themselves. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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