First let me tell you what being a Christian is not.
It is not simply believing on the Name of Jesus Christ. That only gets you saved. Furthermore, what more do you than the Devil. He believes and trembles. It is not going to church faithfully every Sunday, having your name on a church roll. All that is, is not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together. It is not having the ability to speak elloquently, or having faith to move mountains. It is not speaking constantly about God, but living nothing. It is not summiting to your own way and desires, because that does not set you apart from anybody. The true Christian is not found in the crowd. He or she may not alway talk about Christ, but they are displaying His attributes.
The term Christian means loosly: “Christ-like”. It means to do what Jesus did, not contimplate about what would Jesus do.
The book of Acts tells us that the Apostles were called Christians first in Antioch. What this means is: they did not call themselves Christians, but the Jews, Prosolytes, Greeks, and Romans that were in those days noticed what they were doing. How they were living and attributed it with the way Christ carried himself, how He spoke, the works He did, and how He lived. Of course we know the term Christian was not used as a savory term back then. It was used to humilliate the Appostles and diciples. However, being dedicated to the furtherance of the Gospel and the love of Jesus of Nazareth, the Appostles would have worshiped the Lord for being put to shame for His name, and for being made equal with Jesus in His sufferings.
So what does it mean to be a Christian today. It means that until someone can see Christ in how you live, you are not a Christian. Furthermore, if you don’t have the spirit of the Lord you can’t be a Christian. For whoso has not the spirit of God is none of His.
The very thing that makes you even come close to being a full Christian, is the impartation of the Holy Spirit of God. However, you can’t stop there. You have to move on into developing a Christ like mind. Which means you can’t cus someone out just because you get mad. This is not the character of Christ. Remember, we are endeavoring to be Christ Like.
To be a Christian means that you cease to have your own mind, you now have the mind of Christ. Which means, love your enemies, pray for them that despitefully use you and mistreat you. Bless them that curse you; bless and curse not. If someone smacks you on the one cheek, turn to him/her the other. Yes, you must do this if you are going to follow Christ, and be a Christian. If you can’t do this, it means that you have not fully grown into being a Christian.
It takes Faith to do the things Christ asks of us, and without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that comes to Him, must first believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Self denial is a Christian attribute, because you must deny yourself in order to follow Christ.
Therefore, be careful when you say you are a Christian, because it carries a very high price. To be a true Christian you must partake of the Lord’s sufferings. Which means you have to be rejected by your own people. You have to be lied on, talked about, abused, mistreated, dejected, suffer the loss of all things, and still maintain your faith and your integrity. Whosoever will follow me, let him deny himself pickup his cross and follow me.
Question: Are you still a Christian? If you answered yes, reply to this Blog. If not, reply anyway.
When you think about being a Christian. Think about what Jesus did, not what would He do.
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