The most misunderstood word in our language and the
most often abused is the term Christian. We have adopted the idea that because
we have accepted Christ as savior that we are automatically Christians. The
term Christian means Christ-like. The term Christian is not one that we as a
people of God picked out for ourselves. It was not even a badge of respect and
honor like Christianity enjoyed in our recent history. The Scripture says, “And
they were called Christians first in Antioch. Acts 11:26 It was a title of
derision placed upon us by the religious establishment who had opposed Jesus.
The term in its original intent would be paramount to using the “N” word in
reference to a black person. The title that was placed on us for shame did in
fact grow into a badge of honor. This has been the case to such a degree that
we have lost its true meaning. Being a Christian has become fashionable.
Everybody wants to be a Christian. In fact in the southern area of the U.S.
almost everybody claims to be a Christian. I heard one pastor make the comment,
“getting a person saved is easy, getting them lost is the hard part.” You
theologians think on that for a bit. I will never forget as a young man, seeing
an ad in the local paper for a political candidate. This man was running for
Sherriff. He had listed amongst his
achievements, “member. First Baptist Church.” I remember thinking, how I had
known this man all my life and He had not been to anybody’s church in all the
years I knew him. It sure did look good in the campaign ad though. I shared
with my Face Book friends recently about a young lady distressed because her
boyfriend will not go to church with her, but they live together unmarried.
This portrays a false idea of being Christian. A true Christian will be ashamed
of their sin, not act as if it’s not a factor.
To be Christian is for sure to be like Him. We
should be able to use the terms saved, redeemed, and Christian interchangeably.
It should be the goal of all who claim the name of Christ to become more like
Him daily. Sadly this is not the case. Now, I certainly understand that we all
sin, but if we are attempting to be “like Christ” we will not ignore, make
light of, or excuse our sin. Instead we will be burdened by it to the point
that we either deal with it by confession, or by suppression, but we will
certainly never flaunt it the way our society is. We can now claim to be
Christian, do anything we want and use the phrase “don’t judge me” to ease our
own conscience. I recently had a very humbling experience. For about a year I
wore a Black cap that had the initials CIA. It was normally good for a lot of
cool jokes and wise cracks. Occasionally though you would have someone look at
me as if to say, are you really with the CIA. This particular incident took me
much further. I sat next to a gentleman who commented on my cap. We talked
enough that I was able to tell him that the cap was in fact real, but that it
did not mean what he thought. The letters are the emblem of the national
organization, Christians in Action. Almost immediately I was hit by a thought
directly by the Holy Spirit, and I said “I probably shouldn’t even be wearing
it. Why not? It’s because I haven’t been a Christian in “Action” in quite some
time. Oh, I’ll preach, when opportunity arises, witness, write when I have
something to say, help when I can, but this doesn’t rise to the level that it
should. If you ask have I done all I can with all I have for the glory of God,
then sadly the answer is, no. How do you answer this? To be a Christian goes
beyond just being saved it is a commitment to know him more intimately, to
follow Him more closely, and to become more “like Him” every day of our lives.
